by
Little Nell. Lived in the slums of London (the East End) in the early 1800s. The woman she calls ma is a drunk, and the man she calls pa is a sick man. She loves him, but not her mother. She is petite and has learned not to cross her mother. Nell doesn't know her age, but her mother tells her she is old enough to go to work. She is sent to the "mansion" to work as a scullery maid. She is instructed to bring back her pay to her mother. She does, unfortunately, it isn't what her mother thought it should be. She is beaten and thrown down the stairs, left to die. Nell crawls out onto the street, she can go no further. She is found by the driver who brought her to her parents' flat and is taken back to the mansion. She is nursed back to life. Nell has been told she is never to return to her parents' home. She is protected by Cook, who looks after her as if she were her own child. Nell helps the daughter of the family who owns the mansion become healthy. She wins the hearts of all who work at the mansion. Life is good, she works hard, she is happy, until her life changes when her true identity is revealed. Now she must learn a new set of rules and a different way of life.
