Summary

Chapter 1 introduces Mary Lennox, a young English girl living in India with her parents. Mary’s parents did not want her, so they have always ignored her and left her in the care of servants, which has made her very disagreeable. Suddenly there is chaos in her household, and Mary learns that a cholera epidemic has killed several of the servants. Everyone seems to forget about Mary, and she is left on her own. After drinking a glass of wine she finds on a table, she falls into a deep sleep and is awakened when some police officers find her alone in the house. She learns that her parents have died.

In Chapter 2, Mary temporarily goes to live with an English clergyman and his family, where her disagreeable ways cause the other children to nickname her Mistress Mary Quite Contrary. Soon she is...