I just finished re-reading Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. My favourite of hers is The Secret Garden , but this is a close second. I had forgotten bits, including her pet rat and the Large Family. It just feels me with wondrous goodness. I think that's what makes a classic--when you can read it and it stirs you each time you read it as if by magic. The same could be said of The Iliad or Harry Potter, don't you think?
If you've never read A Little Princess, you should. Male or female, the protagonists of Burnett's books tend to preservere in adversity. I've also read The Lost Prince and Little Lord Fauntleroy. But there are others, both for children and adults, and they can be found at the link above in full text.
(Ironically enough, I'm listening to Loreena McKinnit's 'Dickens' Dublin', from Parallel Dreams, which is all about an impoverished child trying to find a warm place to stay at Christmas time.)
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