As the only child of a widowed and wealthy father, Cornelli is accustomed to having her own way. When business calls her father away one summer, he leaves her under the care of his cousin and her friend. Cornelli’s father’s assumption is that these refined ladies will instill some more elegant manners in his rambunctious daughter. But it soon all goes wrong, as Cornelli suffers stifling injustices under the new regime. Things begin to change, however, when a boy her age comes to stay in her alpine town for a period of recuperation.

Johanna Spyri is best known for her children’s classic, Heidi . But she wrote many other works besides, mostly for children, and mostly set in idyllic Swiss landscapes. Cornelli shares these features, and brings also Spyri’s characteristic emotional depth as her young heroine discovers that suffering can be the path to deeper love and fulfillment.