Little Lord Fauntleroy
was English-American writer
Frances Hodgson Burnett's
first children's novel.In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, young Cedric Errol lives with his mother in genteel poverty after the death of his father. One day, they receive a message from Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, an unruly millionaire who despises the United States and was very disappointed when his youngest son married an American woman. With the deaths of his father's elder brothers, Cedric has now inherited the title Lord Fauntleroy and is the heir to the earldom and a vast estate. Cedric's grandfather wants him to live in England and be educated as an English aristocrat. He offers his son's widow a house and guaranteed income, but he refuses to have anything to do with her.The Earl planned to teach his grandson how to be an aristocrat. Instead, Cedric teaches his grandfather that an aristocrat should practice compassion towards those dependent on him.