A Secret Princess

A Secret Princess

Margaret Stohl & Melissa De La Cruz

Putnam, 2022

389 pages

Historical Fiction

Grades 6-Up

Sara Crewe is sent to boarding school from the Philippines to learn to be a proper English lady and to continue her education. As a young woman of means, she is given the best of everything and is the target of spite and envy. Her only friend is loner and misfit, Mary Lennox, who arrived from India and also struggles to make friends among their peers. Their trio is completed by Cedric Erroll, who is confined to a wheelchair and has struggles of his own. The three friends mange to get in and out of trouble, all while writing plays, escaping the school for adventures in the dead of night, and generally finding fun within the confines of the bleak environment. When tragedy strikes Sara--and then Mary, all seems lost. They decide to run away together, only to find troubles and financially difficulties on the road. Eventually, Cedric reveals a secret identity and offers a place of sanctuary for the group of friends. It is here that romance blossoms, as a magical garden is discovered and healing finally can begin for all of the players.

This new book is a mashup of the three most famous books of Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy by the authors of the popular Jo & Laurie. I was very excited to crack into this title, being a fan of the originals author since childhood. The story takes many liberties and sets the novel when the young people are teenagers together in a horrible boarding school (presumably based on the school of A Little Princess). The characters felt younger to me than teenagers, so once they run away and the romance starts, it felt a little confusing. The Cedric character was also a little confusing. He was meant to be Little Lord Fauntleroy, yet fell into the role of Collin from The Secret Garden. Dicken also shows up and offers a romance of his own. I like that the authors put a bit of diversity into the very white stories and their love of the characters and their worlds clearly shows through. The voice is clearly set in the 1800's of the original books and the story is firmly set in the past, yet with the sensibilities of the present. This is the stuff of imaginings and dreaming about what could come next for some of our favorite characters and may inspire young readers to try their hands at some fan-fiction.