I really liked how Hetty seemed to do a full circle, from the circus, to the music hall, to her foster home and in the end, living with Harry when she joins Marina Royal. She becomes the new ringmaster and sews new costumes for Mr Tanglefield, the performing monkeys, and Diamond. Hetty, a foundling, had run away to join the circus and succeeded as a clever young ringmaster, although she discovered it was a hard life.

There, her child was christened Hetty Feather and was given to Peg Cotton's family to be cared for until it was time for her to go back.Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings.

Follow Hetty on her hard journey as she struggles to look after 8 year old Diamond, who just longs for a normal childhood. I love how we get to visit old characters and see where they are and what they are doing (although some characters don't have happy endings). Hetty and Lil are approached by Miss Sarah Smith, who takes them to a restaurant and interviews them for her new book, A penny for a posy. Speaking of found family, I think the greatest charm of this series, apart from its interminable cast of colourful characters, is its emphasis on found family and how it can be so much more important than any blood ties. Both girls fell ill during the influenza outbreak, and Hetty became very sick, though Polly recovered fast.One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. All the Hetty books are great but this is my second favourite (after the first and original) - the way it ties everything together from the previous books, how we meet again characters from the past and if we don’t meet them , they get a mention in Hettys memories. I've got to say, when it comes to subverting societal expectations, Gid really is like a true twin of Hetty's, going once more to prove that found family trumps all. I love how her new profession, acting, inspired by Marina Royal falls in line with one of her greatest talents from the very first book - imagining.

When they move up into the senior school, Hetty defends Polly from getting into trouble for correcting a teacher, and is locked in the Punishment Attic instead. I don't know, but it rubbed me the wrong way in book 3, and it did that much more so here, resulting in the 'sainted' Jem becoming a fallen angel in my books, a shattered ideal, much like he was to Hetty. I’m glad she met Bertie again and although I think she could do better, he’s certainly a better bet than sappy Jem! This is still the ambitious and determined foundling I fell in love reading about, but in a way I couldn't relate to her.Although Hetty had told her she didn't have to act anymore, and she was pleased to have Madame Adeline and Bertie with her, the fact remains that she still doesn't have the normal childhood she craves, and deserves. There’s drama, peril, sadness, a budding romance and happy times skilfully woven into the fabric of Hetty’s story.

MY only problem, is that how Bertie is selfless and willing to give up everything he has for Hetty, Hetty isn't willing to give him the same sentiment. Instead they stay with a seamstress and work on a new act, a parody of the ventriloquist dummy act in the show, using a penny-farthing that they stole from the circus. When exactly was unclear to me, which occasionally felt like a shortcoming, but most of the time I did not mind.This final stretch of Hetty's story (which seemed to end just a wee bit too suddenly, I might add), entrancingly narrated in my beloved simple-yet-appropriately-inviting style of Jacqueline Wilson's, manages to combine the new and exciting with the old and comfortingly familiar so well, among other things, by reintroducing one of my old favourites from all the way back in book 2, in a whole new light and yet so obviously still the same old dear at the core. Decided to reread them during a reading slump, and the ending is so perfect - hetty's story being complete now makes everything happy. Fifteen-year-old Hetty Feather and eight-year-old Diamond have escaped from Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus.