Candice

Single mom Cordy Brown can’t catch a break. Not only does she lose her job, but the quaint English cottage she pools her savings to purchase is the very definition of a money pit. To top it off, a delivery man appears on her doorstep with a shipment of bees and announces she’s their new caretaker! Could life get any more complicated?

Under the rule of Communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu, citizens of Bucharest live with the eyes and ears of the government ever present. During a visit to her aunt’s apartment, 15-year-old Adriana walks through a wardrobe that leads into a hidden room filled with forbidden novels. As her family begins to unravel, her life strangely parallels those of her novels’ heroines. Adriana’s childhood loyalties, and her belief that God doesn’t exist, are called into question as her circumstances force her to rethink things she once believed were certain.

But when the prince she betrayed arrives at the prison, promising freedom in exchange for allegiance to him in marriage, Mara agrees to his terms. Her hasty decision is soon tested. The journey to the palace is riddled with difficulty, but Mara has nowhere else to turn. As she presses on in the face of fierce wolves, violent lightning storms, and the threat of being captured by the rebel army she deserted, can the unlikely princess learn to trust her lifelong enemy?