PENGUIN Hetty Feather

We bought this out of historical interest initially as we live near Coram Fields, the site of the Foundling Hospital where Hetty grew up. We read it as a bedtime story to our (then) six year old and he loved it. Hetty is a wonderful heroine; resilient, resourceful, impetuous and brave. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing and the vocabulary as I had heard some negative comments from parents about this author. I gather some reviewers feel her books can be a bit repetitive but this was the first we had read and the description of poverty stricken childhood in Victorian London was fascinating to my son (who is generally only moved by Star Wars!). We have subsequently read the two sequels and loved them both.

The relationship between Hetty and Jem seems very unhealthy even though they are not blood-related, Should Jem be climbing in to the bed of a 5-year-old girl ?? No black faces in the book but plenty in the tv series.

Bought for a Jaqueline Wilson fan so was received with excitement!

My two daughters and I LOVED Hetty Feather. They are 11 and 7 (and I am 38), and we have all thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. This is the first novel I have read to them. Usually they will have a short story before bed read by me, or choose a book to read for themselves. Hetty Feather has even won the vote over watching a movie! They have been to bed late several times now as they beg for "just one more page"! I have to confess it has gripped me too. My grandmother who is 102 years old grew up in an orphanage, carrying out the same tasks as Hetty, being separated from her brother and being punished in much the same way. This book has really brought it home to them how lucky they are to live in the world as it is now. They actually look forward to bed time so they can read another chapter. This, to me, speaks volumes about the quality of Wilson's work. As soon as Hetty was finished they begged me to come on here and order the next two books. Any author who can summon such excitement for reading is OK by me!

Granddaughter loved it