The Unfortunates - Laurie Graham

What hope is there for Poppy Minkel? She has kinky hair, out-sticking ears, too-yellow a neck and an appetite for fun, and her mother Dora despairs of ever finding her a husband, despite the Minkel’s Mustard fortune that seasons these dubious attractions. When Daddy disappears, Poppy’s tendency to the unusual is quietly allowed to flourish.

World War I opens new horizons. With never a moment of self-doubt, she invents her own extraordinary life in step with the unfolding century.