Written by Sophie Masson

Published by Saint Mary’s Press 2008, paperback, 153 pages, 12 and up.

Malikin… gave Tattercoats the food she had smuggled out. The Baron had decreed a few months before that his granddaughter must not be allowed to leave her miserable room until the evening, and must not be fed till then, but Malkin ignored these cruel orders. If truth be told, she was getting more anxious these days as to the possible fate of Tattercoats.

When the despairing Tattercoats is included in an invitation to  the Earl of Malmsey’s grand ball, the servant girl Malkin and Pug, the goose herd, are determined that she will attend and claim the inheritance denied her since birth. Together they set off for the court, collecting a ragtag assortment of allies along the way. The journey becomes exciting and then frightening as they discover themselves enveloped in a powerful magical realm-one right out of the mind of Shakespeare.