Nesta believes in the fairy tales - the true stories of powerful magical women who shaped and ruled the world decades ago.

But the world has changed since then, and now, she is forbidden from wandering too far from the isolated woodland cottage where she lives with her grandmother. Nesta longs more than anything to see the city that lies beyond the forest, and when her grandmother is abducted, she gets her chance, journeying there in the hope of rescuing her.

But once there, she is horrified to see her grandmother's warnings were true: girls are forced to wear certain clothes and punished if they don't behave in certain ways. The city's Authorities have rewritten history, replacing the fairytale heroines with weak girls who must rely on men.

Worse still - everyone believes this is how the world has always been.

Only Nesta knows the truth. But truth is a dangerous thing, and suddenly she finds herself a target. Can she evade the Authorities long enough to rescue her grandmother and liberate everyone else, bringing magic back into the world?

Polly Crosby grew up on the Suffolk coast, and now lives with her husband and son in the heart of Norfolk.

The activity pack includes stickers, book club-style questions to ponder and a welcome note from Polly Crosby. There’s also a crossword to solve and a recipe for delicious apple cupcakes, alongside jokes and further reading recommendations.

Activity packs are a handy A5 size and printed on uncoated paper which is fully recyclable.

We dispatch orders Monday - Friday.

• Standard UK Royal Mail delivery £2.99 (free on bookshop orders over £25)
• UK Express delivery also available from £5.50
• International shipping available to select destinations (calculated at checkout according to weight)

Our packs are wrapped in a simple paper sleeve and sent out in a cardboard book wrap – we would be so grateful if you could recycle both.

More information on shipping

We don't include any paperwork in our parcels so you can send our book gifts directly to the recipient with confidence.

We'll happily add a handwritten note to your order. Simply leave your message in the box on the cart page.

This pack is also available as part of a gift set:

Our gift set collection

You may also like to browse our greeting cards & gift wrap

We are a monthly book subscription by post for children aged 5 to 14, focused on helping families discover new and different chapter books.

This title was sent to subscribers in the Macaw reading group, aged roughly 12 to 14, who need books that feel grown-up but aren’t quite ready for all young adult books.