The Misplaced Heiress

By Susan Horsnell

A story of courage, friendship and finding a place to belong.

Eleven-year-old Clara Ellery has always known a life of comfort and privilege. When her wealthy father enrols her at an exclusive London boarding school before returning to India on business, Clara is determined to make the best of their six-month separation. With beautiful rooms, fine clothes and every luxury money can buy, she soon becomes the favoured pupil of the school's formidable headmistress, Mrs Harcourt.

But Clara is more interested in friendship than fortune. She befriends Beatrice, a pupil whose family has fallen on difficult times, and Elsie, a young servant whose life couldn't be more different from her own.

Then devastating news arrives from India. Clara's father is dead, his fortune apparently lost, and the comfortable world she's always known disappears overnight.

Stripped of her privileges and forced to work as a servant in the very school where she was once treated like royalty, Clara must endure Mrs Harcourt's cruelty while struggling with grief, hunger and loneliness. Yet even when she has nothing left to give, she refuses to abandon the friends who need her.

And when an unexpected discovery reveals that her father's affairs may not be what they seem, Clara's fortunes could change once more.

A Victorian tale of resilience, unlikely friendships and the discovery that a person's true worth has nothing to do with wealth.

A Little Princess Retelling.

Cover Image: Depositphotos

11-16 year old young adult

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HMK1KS6B
• ISBN13: 9798237011951
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Lipstick Publishing
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"