About this Book

Priscilla Day is 12 at the beginning of the novel and living with her parents. Mr Day has lost his job and they are poor. At 14 Priscilla starts as a skivvy in the village, then a maid in the household of Mr and Mrs Masters. Mrs Masters is a friend of her mother’s but more prosperous and has a son, Harry, to whom Priscilla is attracted. Harry begins to court a local girl and Priscilla decides to move away and gets a job in London. The rest of the novel shows Priscilla’s development. She has various jobs in service and becomes a well-trained parlourmaid. She returns to the village, taking a job in a house near her parents. She meets Harry again and starts walking out with him. She is not happy in her job; the mistress of the house constantly finds fault with the servants. She is also trying to bully a young heiress who lives with her into marrying her wastrel of a son. Priscilla helps the young woman and the expected happy endings materialise.