Jacqueline Wilson's sublime "Hetty Feather" stories are a recent discovery for us, and they're absolutely perfect for C who really adores anything to do with Victorian times, even novels that deal with the harshness that staff 'downstairs' would encounter while in service.
"Rose Rivers" by Jacqueline Wilson is a new novel set in the same storyworld as Hetty Feather, with a lot of characters old and new that readers will already love, or grow to love over the course of this fabulous book.
Rose Rivers is definitely not a 'downstairs' girl though. She lives in a beautiful house with her artist father, her difficult, fragile mother and her many siblings.
Rose is fortunate, gifted and has just about everything a young girl could need or want - but she still feels like life is passing her by and that there's still something missing.
For example why can’t she be sent away to a good school like her twin brother?
Why can’t she learn to become a famous artist like her father or his friend Paris Walker?
Why is life so unfair for people who were not born rich?
Then a young girl, Clover Moon (you may remember Clover from her own fab story), joins the household as a nursemaid to Rose’s troubled sister Beth, Rose finds a true friend for the first time and she starts to learn more about the world outside.
Will Rose finally achieve her dreams? And will she be able to help Clover find her own dream?
Beautifully illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Rose Rivers is a superb new book in the Hetty Feather story series that will delight and grip you in equal measure.
"Rose Rivers" by Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt is out now, published by Doubleday Children's Books (kindly supplied for review)