Daisy May

Description

Rags to riches story of a young orphan who becomes a famous actress. A Roaring Good Read launch title. Daisy is brought up in a foundling's hospital in Victorian times. At ten she is sent into service as a skivvy at the Dobell Academy.There she watches all the pupils learning how to be young ladies, wearing fine clothes and learning how to read, write and...dance. Daisy dreams of being like them one day and painstakingly teaches herself to read with the help of one kind teacher. She is caught dancing in one of the piano rooms and is and reproved for having 'ideas above her station', but undaunted she perseveres with her dream to be a 'beautiful lady on the stage.' Daisy even makes up a stage name -- Marguerite Dobell. One night, in her attic bedroom, she sees a ghost -- an old lady sitting in a rocking chair looking through a scrapbook of photos and theatre programmes. The woman is strangely familiar . When the young ladies of Dobell Academy put on their end of term dancing display, Daisy risks being caught again and does her own dance in the corridor -spotted by two late-comers who realise that Daisy is the perfect little dancer to play the part of Dolly in their production Little Dolly Daydream. That night, in her attic bedroom, Daisy is revisited by her ghost looking in old theatre programmes -- she spots the name of the production, it is Little Dolly Daydream and there in the cast list is the name Marguerite Dobell. Daisy has seen into the future, the ghost is none other than herself as an elderly and once famous actress. Her dream will come true. A wonderful unashamedly sentimental rags- to-riches story which young readers from 7 and upwards will adore, and one which will be timeless and backlist well. My Fair Lady meets The Little Match Girl from a prize-winning author.

Jean has written over 70 books for children at for all ages. She lives in an ancient house in Croydon with her family of dogs and cats 1. She is a vegan and committed to animal rights.

It is told in such a way that the reader will readily identify and empathise with Daisy and her life in late Victorian England. Skilfully told, with Donnelly's illustrations making the characters seem more real, I found the book difficult to put down. Books for Keeps (January 03)