Emily Huckwell was born in a tiny Sussex village in the 1870s and went into domestic service in the Burton household before she was twelve, earning 堡 year. She began as a nursery maid, progressing to under nurse and then head nanny, looking after two generations of children. One of the children in her care was the father of Noel Streatfeild, the author of BALLET SHOES and among the best-loved children's writers of the twentieth century. Noel Streatfeild here tells Emily's story and with her characteristic warmth and intimacy creates a fascinating portrait of Victorian and Edwardian life above and below stairs.