Liar's Kingdom

Cinderella is a liar. In this fairy-tale retelling, Prince Bayard D'Harcourt of Holbein arrives at the door of Ellain DeBrun, places the glass slipper on her foot, and whisks her away from her cruel stepfamily. Ell doesn't confess that she didn't attend the ball and has never met the prince. Their engagement is announced--she's to wed Bayard in just three days. At court, lonely Ell makes friends for the first time since her father's death, but she faces new dangers. Duke Maxim D'Arcy, Bayard's best friend, knows about Ell's lie, but he can't expose her without risking his own secrets. The ill-tempered King Alaric is waging war on Fairyland, burdening the peasants with its costs. He also despises his son, regarding him as cowardly and spineless and speaking scornfully about Bayard's inability to recognize people's faces (his prosopagnosia isn't named as such in the book). Meanwhile, Ell's stepfamily still seeks to destroy her, and Maxim quietly plots to prevent the marriage. With war threatening Holbein and her position precarious, Ell must save herself and the kingdom. In this version of the story, Ell is spirited and has a strong sense of self-preservation. Her abusive past makes her deeply empathetic toward the commoners. Quick-thinking, kind, and resilient, she will earn readers' affection as she carves out her own path for survival, offering "Cinderella" a much-needed 21st-century update. Main characters present white. A clever and spirited twist on a classic tale. (note to readers)(Fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.