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Sara Crewe - The Little Princess: Three-Act Playscript of the Classic Novel
Raised in India by her affluent and adoring father, Captain Ralph Crewe, Sara was sent to London to be educated at Miss Minchin’s Seminary for Young Ladies at the age of seven.
Impressed by Captain Crewe’s fortune, and wishing to keep Sara at the school as long as possible, Miss Minchin allows Sara luxuries far beyond those of her other parlour boarders—that is until the day of Sara’s eleventh birthday when Sara receives the devastating news of her adored father’s death.
Suddenly penniless, Miss Minchin banishes Sara to the garret to work as a servant alongside Becky, the seminary’s young scullery maid. Though starved and abused, Sara uses imagination and friendship—with Becky, Ermengarde, and Lottie—to make the best of her change in situation and fortunes. However, hope is on the horizon, in the guise of a monkey and his mysterious owner who lives next door…
3 Acts; Cast - 5 male, 3 female, 1 boy, and 14 girls; Setting - 1902, London
91 pages, Paperback
Published November 20, 2014
About the author
Frances Hodgson Burnett
1,699 books5,107 followersFrances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
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April 11, 2026
This was a favorite book of my mother's when she was a child (born 1918). It is very much from that period and teaches the lessons of good manners, kindness, and generosity. Those lessons are couched in the cast systems of elite, servant, scullery maid, and so on. I would not suggest reading this to a child in today's world. I listened to this book in bed on "The Sleepy Bookshelf" app. Love falling asleep to this.
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