The Warden's Niece

http://nhw.livejournal.com/705821.html

Eleven-year-old Maria runs away from school to her great-uncle who is the Warden of an Oxford college. She gets put in with the three sons of the neighbouring house, and their eccentric temporary tutor Mr Copplestone (who would certainly be played by Stephen Fry in the movie version). She also develops her own little research programme, solves a historical mystery, and thus gets her Bildung. It's a lovely little book. My favourite scene is where she manages to talk her way into the Bodleian Library, in a combination of drive to find the answers to the historical mystery that has been puzzling her, and carrying out the terms of a dare from one of the boys next door.

Orphaned Maria feels overwhelmed and out of place in her new boarding school, so she runs away to stay with her uncle, a warden at Cambridge, gets tutored along with the neighbor boys (sons of a professor), and becomes fascinated with the history of a local manor house and its family. Her researches into that history get her into all sorts of scrapes and leads her on several adventures.
This one didn't fully grab my attention but it wasn't the worst of its kind, either, and honestly it has aged pretty well, I think. Recommended if you like this sort of thing.

I love this. It's simple and uncomplicated. It's the tale of Maria who runs away from hateful school after a mere few weeks to her uncle in Oxford.

She goes to her neighbour for tutoring where she makes friends with three brothers and gets interested enough to do some historical research after visiting a house. She has considerable adventures along the way, although nothing too strenuous and all ends well.

Set in 1875, Maria an orphan runs away from boarding school and ends up living with her uncle, warden of Canterbury College, Oxford.