Audiobook · read by volunteers
À Little Princess (version 2)
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924)
Read by Karen Savage · 22 chapters · 5 h 41
About the book
Sara Crewe is sent from India to London to be educated at Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies, because the climate there does not suit children. Her father, Captain Crewe, is rich and generous, and for several years she is the school’s showpiece pupil, with a private room, a maid and beautiful clothes. Then news arrives that her father has died, leaving nothing, and her life changes at once. Sara must work as a servant in the attic, hungry and cold, but she keeps her kindness and her imagination alive. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of a child who refuses to give in to bitterness is one of the great classics of children’s literature, and it is still moving today. A story of courage, kindness and imagination, and of a child who will not give in to despair.
Introduction
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was an English-born American writer, author of Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden. A Little Princess was published in 1905 and developed from an earlier story, Sara Crewe, of the late 1880s. It remains one of her most popular novels, loved for its heroine and its sense of hope.
This is a second recording of the book, read by a single LibriVox volunteer. It begins with the chapter titled Sara and continues through twenty-two chapters, including A French Lesson and Ermengarde. The story combines school-life, fairy-tale and moral lesson in a way that has been admired for more than a century. It is a story about imagination and dignity, and about the idea that being a princess has more to do with how one behaves than with circumstances.
Children enjoy the contrast between Sara’s fortunes, while adults appreciate the story’s gentle strength. It is an inspiring book for family listening, and a fine version for anyone who wants to hear the story again.
Twenty-two recordings, about 5.7 hours in all, follow the book chapter by chapter. Titles such as The Diamond Mines, In the Attic, The Indian Gentleman and The Magic mark the turns of the story, and one chapter is named after a rat, Melchisedec, which tells you something about Sara’s attic. A child can follow it with a story a night, and adults will enjoy it just as well. Sara’s daily tests in the attic, from cold and hunger to the temper of Miss Minchin, are balanced by small kindnesses, among them her friendship with the scullery maid Becky.
Public domain
Frances Hodgson Burnett died in 1924: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text