Gemma Alone/Gemma the Star (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link) I have loved Noel Streatfeild’s books for children since I first discovered some of them on my grandmother’s shelves when I was, I suppose, about eight or nine. I have acquired most of them over the years, and reread them sporadically. I picked up ‘Gemma’ to reread in January, and the sequel ‘Gemma and Sisters’ in mid-March. 
So it was time for the third in the series, originally titled ‘Gemma Alone’. I last read it in 2015 after buying a replacement to my forty-year-old paperback...