Growing up in a poor New York neighbourhood, Cedric Errol appears to be
a normal American boy. However, as he discovers when he meets his
grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, he is actually Lord Fauntleroy, and
is expected to become an English gentleman. Whisked away from his mother
and his friends, Cedric must find a way to convince his grandfather to
send him home and show him that there is more to nobility than titles
and wealth.
First published in 1886, Little Lord Fauntleroy was Frances Hodgson
Burnett's first children's novel, and was hugely popular in its day. It
contains many of the themes that would recur in her masterpiece The
Secret Garden, and remains a witty and charming tale of a transatlantic
clash of cultures.