Sara Crewe, or What Happened at Miss Minchin's

1888. Burnett, began as a novelist, but she is now best remembered for her children's books including Sara Crewe (which was later rewritten to become The Little Princess).
It begins: In the first place, Miss Minchin lived in London. Her home was a large, dull, tall one, in a large, dull square, where all the houses were alike, and all the sparrows were alike, and where all the door-knockers made the same heavy sound, and on still days-and nearly all the days were still-seemed to resound through the entire row in which the knock was knocked. On Miss Minchin's door there was a brass plate. On the brass plate there was described in black letters, Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies.