London, 1870. Pressed by two friends who are fans of true if harsh stories, Marie-Louise de la Ramée, better known by her pen name Ouida, gives a detailed description of a recent trip to Antwerp. The trip has affected her deeply as conditions in the rural world there are particularly difficult.

Far from the British levity of her fellow writer Charles Dickens, her story of the misadventures of young Nello and his dog Patrasche is brutally real. Her storytelling style takes no prisoners.

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