A ragged princess needs all her courage to help her find out what has happened to her mother. When Princess Charlotte’s mother, the Queen of Quayle, vanishes in mysterious circumstances no-one seems very interested in finding out what has become of her. When Charlotte discovers a clue to what has happened to her mother she quickly has to work out who she can trust before to sets out to solve the dark mystery.
Ever since the Queen mysteriously disappeared and the King went mad five years ago, Princess Charlie has lived a wild and mostly unsupervised life in the country of Quale—until now. With the discovery of a letter in the Queen's handwriting, Charlie embarks on a quest to find her mother and save the kingdom from a revolution. However, her journey pulls Charlie deeper into an entangling web of lies and secrets—as twisted as the dark castle—where nothing is as it seems.
Ellen Renner grew up in the Ozark hills of southern Missouri and ran away to England as soon as possible. She trained as a painter before turning her artistic hand to creative writing. Her debut novel Castle of Cards won the 2007 Cornerstone's/Writers News WOW Factor Competition, which led her to be snapped up by her agent. Ellen lives in Devon with her husband and young son - in a castle!
