A dramatic reversal of the traditional 'rags to riches' formula, A Little Princess, by the author of The Secret Garden , Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a truly magical story about the power of optimism in the face of adversity, which continues to enchant readers of all ages. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This edition of A Little Princess features illustrations by Reginald Birch and an afterword by publisher Anna South. When little Sara Crewe is brought from India to London to join Miss Minchin's school, she arrives a princess - cloaked in velvet and feathers, surrounded by affection. Then disaster strikes; her father dies and his business fails, and Sara is cast into poverty. Now a beggar, and used by the school for back-breaking work, she must depend on her imagination, and the kindness of strangers, to lift her above the misery of her circumstances.