The Bountiful Ladyor, How Mary Was Changed from a Very Miserable Little Girl to a Very Happy One

Mary Brown lives in a cramped London attic, hungry and forgotten, scrubbing floors while other children play. She is seven years old and has never known kindness. Then, one day after wishing desperately for something more, she wakes in a strange and beautiful place, tended by a mysterious benefactor called the Bountiful Lady, and begins the strange work of learning to be happy. This 1900 fairy tale in the mold of The Secret Garden and Flat Stanley captures something timeless: the hunger of a child who has nothing, and the miracle of suddenly having everything. Cobb writes with Dickensian sympathy for London's poor urchins, but his real gift is the fantasy itself, a magical country where Mary's misery is literally healed and her deepest longings are answered. The book feels of its era in the best ways, unashamed of its wish-fulfillment, earnest about the transformability of a child's circumstances. It's comfort reading for anyone who once dreamed of being rescued.