A review by glyptodonsneeze
Sara Crewe, Or What Happened At Miss Minchin's by Frances Hodgson Burnett

3.0

Sara Crewe, or What Happened atMiss Minchin's, the original version of The Little Princess. Sara Crewe was written in 1888 and FHB didn't revise it into A Little Princess until 1905. All those years and people only had this small novella about a girl whose fortunes are double-reversed. It's an interesting read and an astute reader with a love of A Little Princess would pick up thousands more little tweaks than I did. An angry Sara knocks Emily to the ground. In ALP, Sara is so dedicated to her pretendings that she maintains her steadfastness through the deepest privations. An angry Sara is a more human Sara, although she's less appealing as the friends who sustain her in her isolation are not here. No Becky, no Lottie. Ermengarde has a chapter, but her only characteristic is "stupid," and I'm not just saying that. FHB calls her stupid eight or nine times. The bakery episode is almost untouched; characters keep mentioning the French Revolution; and FHB coasts through the end, where all the best parts are. An interesting insight into a work in its middle state.

http://surfeitofbooks.blogspot.com/2014/05/am-i-kissing-wrong.html