The Glass Slipper

Is a telling of the Cinderella tale. In a fictional unnamed European principality, Widow Sonder dotes upon her two spoiled daughters, Birdena and Serafina, they collectively preparing for the Duke's ball in honor of the return of his son, Prince Charles, his extended absence for studies. As such, most of the citizens of the principality have never seen the Prince. The widow's neglected child is her stepdaughter Ella, who is treated as a servant, she covered in soot more often than not in her regular task of cleaning out the fireplace, hence the taunts by her peers in town of cinder-Ella. Those taunts lead to Ella's defiance against them, which only exacerbates the animosity on both sides. Her only joys in life are the potential of the story told to her as a child from a fortune teller via her late mother becoming reality, that someday she would live in the palace, and spending time in solitude in her happy place in the dales. On the days before the ball, friendless Ella meets in that happy place two people who change her life. The first is Mrs. Toquet, known as the reclusive crazy lady kleptomaniac who nonetheless befriends Ella. The second is someone who identifies himself as the son of the palace cook, who recognizes Ella from his childhood as the girl with the sad eyes. In they seemingly falling in love with each other, Ella believes her dreams of living in the palace may actually become reality, especially as he invites her to the ball, which she is able to attend with Mrs. Toquet's help. In reality, Ella's new male friend is not the cook's son as he states, but rather Prince Charles himself. What happens between them is affected by Ella trying to evade anyone at the ball who may know who she is, especially her stepmother and stepsisters, she trying to make her way to the kitchen to reunite with her love unaware that he is nowhere near the kitchen, both items leading to her forgetting about the time, she told by Mrs Toquet the need to leave the ball by midnight, Prince Charles' own royal obligations to marry a princess and not a commoner, and something Ella leaves behind in her haste to leave the ball by the appointed time.