The Magic Mirror: Concerning a Lonely Princess, a Foundling Girl, a Scheming King and a Pickpocket Squirrel by Susan Hill Long

She's an abandoned child who has been brought up by a woman who lost her love.  This woman is not loving or kind but she shares her food and buys her clothes in return for the girl running errands for her.  Everything is okay until the woman tells her she's going to marry her to the hunchback in town.  He's dirty, old, ugly, and smells bad.  She refuses to marry him and goes on the run to avoid it.  Running by foot with no money or food, she has a hard time of it.

Knopf Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published May 10th.

This is quite the tale.  There are multiple characters, a King that will do whatever he must to get the power and land he wants, and even a squirrel.

The girl is saved by a troubadour who is her own age and her new best friend.  She meets a sister she never knew she had, then she loses her.  The woman who raised her finds her again.  Many of the characters are tied to events in the past that they aren't even aware of until they speak again.  Then, of course, there's also the mirror.  That was the start of all the trouble.  It was magic, you see.

There's lots of excitement and danger mixed with the magic and the beginning of love.  I enjoyed reading this and it made me smile more than it made me sad.  Try it, it might surprise you.