by Hilary McKay (J MCK)
Award-winning author Hilary McKay always wondered what happened to the girls Sara Crewe left behind at Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary For Young Ladies at the end of the classic novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Now she has written a story to answer her question.
McKay picks up where Burnett stopped, using both the third person omniscient narrator and Ermengarde’s letters to Sara to give her readers a new story about Burnett's classic beloved (and reviled) characters. We watch Ermengarde wrestle with her feelings after Sara’s departure, Lavinia become a driven scholar in pursuit of an Oxford education, and Lottie cause mischief and mayhem. McKay shows glimpses of a tormented Miss Minchin who has acquired a new smell (a subtle reference to the headmistress’s reliance on alcohol) that Lottie likes and finds interesting. McKay keeps Sara in the story through letters to Ermengarde, flashbacks, and an appearance at the end of the novel.
Wishing for Tomorrow is an enjoyable and sometimes humorous read, but does not reach the heights that its predecessor reached, which is a high bar indeed. Recommended for fans of Frances Hodgson Burnett and girls in grades 3-6.
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