She was fostered when she was a baby by a lovely lady who had many foster kids but when they were 5 she had to return them to the hospital. When Hetty Feather went back to the foundling hospital she found it hard to make friends. She finally made a friend called Polly but she got adopted and Hetty didn’t make other friends. Hetty had many crazy experiences like running away and meeting her birth mother. Her mother, Ida, told her when she was born she named her Sapphire Battersea.
When she turned 14 she got a job as a servant at an author’s house. Hetty always wanted to be an author and was so pleased but angry because she hates working. She began to make friends with the other servant Sarah and the house chef Mrs Brisket but got into trouble with her master and got kicked out. Mrs Brisket gave her money to stay safe but instead Hetty went to visit her mother in Bignor only to find out she is terribly ill. She wouldn’t quit her job but a doctor came and put her in a special infirmary.
A family, the Greenwoods, find Hetty and take her in while they are on holiday. They are very kind but after their 2 week holiday is over they offer for Hetty to go and live with them but she wants to stay in Bignor and take care of her mother. She doesn’t want to go back to the hospital or to the greenwoods as she thinks its too late And she doesn’t want to beg for her old job back. So instead of going back she decides to go forward and have a better life.