Published by Barrington Stoke An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 Robroyston Gate, Glasgow, G33 1JN www.barringtonstoke.co.uk HarperCollinsPublishers Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper, Dublin 1, DO1 C9W8, Ireland First published in 2026 Text © 2026 Sally Nicholls Illustrations © 2026 Ashley King Cover design © 2026 HarperCollinsPublishers Limited The moral right of Sally Nicholls and Ashley King to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 ISBN 978-0-00-876046-5 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in whole or in any part in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher and copyright owners Without limiting the exclusive rights of any author, contributor or the publisher of this publication, any unauthorised use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited. HarperCollins also exercise their rights under Article 4(3) of the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 and expressly reserve this publication from the text and data mining exception A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd.
For wallflowers everywhere – S.N. For my grandparents, Stella, Alva and Charlie. Your love and warmth has inspired the colours of my imagination – A.K.
CONTENTS 1.
Once upon a time
2. There was a handsome prince 3. He invited every girl in the land to a ball
4. He danced all night with a mysterious stranger
5. At midnight, she ran away,
leaving only a glass slipper
6. The prince vowed to find the
1 6
14
24
34
girl who fit the shoe
42
He knocked on every door until he found her
48
8. And they lived happily ever after
59
7.
CHAPTER 1 Once upon a time
Sadie Jones was the smallest kitchen maid at the palace. She got up at half past six every morning and spent ALL DAY washing dishes: • breakfast dishes; • lunch dishes; • dinner dishes; • supper dishes. She even washed the dishes for the palace dogs and cats!
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Her best friend was Joey Fisher. Joey Fisher was the smallest kitchen boy in the palace. He got up at six o’clock every morning and spent ALL DAY: • looking after the kitchen fires; • chopping food; • and helping Sadie wash up.
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Working at the palace was hard. But sometimes it was fun. Sadie and Joey heard lots of gossip about the King and Queen and Prince Charming. When there were balls, they liked to watch people arrive in their party clothes. Everyone in the kitchens was kept very busy when there were balls and didn’t get to see much of the dancing. But afterwards, they got to eat all the leftover party food. “I wish I could go to a ball one day,” said Sadie. “Me too,” said Joey. But they knew they never would.
* Sadie’s big sister Arabella was a parlour maid. It was her job to serve tea and cakes to the
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Queen. She often heard bits of gossip about the royal family. “The Queen wants Prince Charming to get married,” she told Sadie. “But Prince Charming says all the princesses he meets are rubbish.” “Maybe he shouldn’t marry a princess then?” said Sadie. Arabella laughed. “Princes always marry princesses,” she said.
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But then, one day, Arabella came downstairs with very interesting news. “The Queen says the Prince has to choose a wife before the end of the summer,” she said. “Or she’ll choose one for him!” “Ooh!” said Sadie. “I wonder who he’ll pick?” “Not Princess Gloria,” said Joey. “He said she was stuck‑up and selfish.” “And not Princess Ella,” said Arabella. “He said she was spoilt and mean.” “Maybe he’ll marry a Lady instead?” said Sadie. “Or a kitchen maid,” said Joey. “I wouldn’t want to be a princess,” Sadie said. “It looks awfully boring.” She sighed. “But I would like to go to a ball … just once!”
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