In “A Little Princess” by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a novel first published in 1905 based on a play (“A Little Un-Fairy Princess”, 1902) and then made into multiple film adaptations - most notably a 1939 version starring Shirley Temple, and a 1995 version that when mentioned, can still reliably bring a tear into the eye of a person raised in the ’90s (my boyfriend had to be removed from the movie theater because he was crying so much). Sara, an intelligent child that is described as being “queer” and “odd” at least once in every chapter, who likes to make up stories and befriend outcasts and mice, is brought from her home to a young lady’s boarding school - which is never a good sign in children’s literature. She is very rich and gets everything she desires (but is still carefully described as unspoiled) but then has a shattering tumble from status when her father is reported dead, leaving the headmistress responsible for her and her expensive birthday party which she brutally interrupts and requires to immediately put on her oldest, plainest dress and live in the attic and become a “drudge” (which I gather is a servant who has no specific role and has to do everything they are told). One of her main comforts is that she can climb onto a table and look out of the skylight to watch the sunset, only at the peak of the most abandoned room can she see over all the smog and grey slate rooves.
I thought this passage describing the sky was beautifully done - and of course, she is returned to her “royal” status by the end. I loved the image of her head poking out above Edwardian London and looking at the sky.
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