Every night in the attic Sara was tired and cold and often very hungry.
The work had been long and hard and Miss Minchin had been unkind again.
But before she closed her eyes Sara always did one very important thing.
She began to tell herself a story as if she were telling it to a friend.
In the story her father was alive and they were sitting together by a warm fire.
The story always made the cold room feel a little less empty and a little less frightening.
Sara had learned that the mind can be a shelter when the body has no comfort to turn to.
Imagination kept Sara strong in dark times.