Princess Pandora of Rozeinberg has been imprisoned in a tower since she was a baby. She is eventually liberated, but her imprisonment has made her tough and rough. While proving popular with her subjects, Pandora’s rough ways shock her snobby cousins. They hire a forester to get rid of her. He imprisons her again, this time in a windmill, and she will perish there if she does not get help in time.
Sarah Taylor hardly seems Miss World material. She is tomboyish, tough, slovenly, does not care for her appearance or charm, hates makeup, works as a mechanic, and thinks the idea of becoming Miss World is ludicrous. Nonetheless, Sarah’s sister Alice is convinced that she does have what it takes to become Miss World and sets out to her into a beauty queen. But the problems Alice has to surmount with Sarah are not making the road to the Miss World title easy.
Canadians Jane and Joe Donnelly have been brought up in a strictly run sect, The Children of Carona. They have to get special dispensation from their sect to pursue ice-skating careers. Then disaster strikes when Joe’s sight begins to fail, and the beliefs of their sect forbid him from seeking treatment. Their trainer, Myra Calvert, investigates the sect and discovers it is being run by racketeers – who are now out to kill the Donnellys.
It is the year 1840, a hungry year. When Jess Hope’s father dies, she sets out to get the family to America. But they run into problems, and these are hungry times. A sequel follows the Hope family voyage and arrival in the New World.
Plot:
Cassie Brown is a teacher at Morley Grange School, which is run by the cruel and hated Miss Pike. Cassie is just as much hated by the pupils and nicknamed “Callous Cassie”. They do not know Cassie is only pretending to be cruel in order to secretly help them against Miss Pike.
Gypsy girl Susie Lee runs away from her cruel stepfather and stepsister and hides in a school storeroom. She finds an old uniform and becomes a secret pupil at the school.
Mary Armstrong and her brother Davey are taken to the workhouse. Davey is adopted, and Mary does not trace him until three years later. She gets work as a servant at Burwell Grange, Davey’s adoptive home. She is not revealing herself as she realises the Burwells do not love Davey; they just want him so they can inherit a fortune. Worse, other relatives are out to kill Davey so they can inherit the fortune, and they realise Mary is a threat when she saves Davey from a murder attempt.
Something strange happens with the old mirror in Angie Durrant’s room. Angie finds herself in a different age, as a little slavey called Abigail. Another servant, Milton, cheats Lady Mirabel, the daughter of the house, and Angie gets blamed. Angie realises she is reliving the life of the real Abigail, who was blamed for Milton’s crime.
Hannah Leroy goes in search of her father, who failed to return from a theatrical tour, and finds him in a debtor’s prison.
The Comb of Karah was discovered at an Egyptian archeaological dig in the 1920s. Since then it has passed through many hands, and it has the power to bring good luck to people with no evil intentions and bad luck to those who do.
