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'A magical modern retelling of an old fairytale ... Exquisite' - Jacqueline Wilson
'These twelve fierce heroines will be a pleasure to return to again and again' - Madeline Miller
'A complete revelation' - Thandie Newton
'Wild, wise, generous, ferocious' - Katherine Rundell
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A dazzling, feminist fairytale from the bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The House of Fortune.

For her twelve daughters, Queen Laurelia's death in a motor car accident is a disaster beyond losing a mother. Their father, King Alberto, cannot bear the idea of the princesses ever being in danger and decides his daughters must be kept safe at all costs. Those costs include their lessons, their possessions and, most importantly, their freedom.

But the eldest, Princess Frida, will not bend to his will without a fight and she still has one possession her father can't take: the power of her imagination. And so, with little but wits and ingenuity to rely on, Frida and her sisters begin their fight to be allowed to live.
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An essential gift, this inspirational story about family, sisterhood, imagination and bravery is a modern classic to be handed down from mother to daughter for generations.

Jessie Burton was born in 1982 and went to school in south London. Her favourite subjects were story writing, sleeping and ice-cream eating. After studying at Oxford University she went on to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She worked as an actress and a PA before her first novel, The Miniaturist, was published. The Miniaturist was translated into 38 languages and has sold over a million copies around the world. Her second novel, The Muse, was published in July 2016 and is also a no.1 bestseller.

Angela Barrett studied at Maidstone College of Art and the Royal College of Art. She has taught Illustration at Cambridge College of Technology and Drawing at Chelsea College and is widely regarded as one of the UK's finest illustrators. She won the 1988 Smarties Book Prize for Can It Be True? and has been shortlisted three times for the Kurt Maschler Award and once for the Kate Greenaway Medal.