Prologue

Gerberoy, France, 1796

O nce upon a time, there lived a very rich family in France, and a husband and wife who loved each other very much. They had a little girl with golden curls and a sweet smile who liked to laugh, dance, and play with her doll, but she also loved being in the kitchen with the cooks, tasting their food, and making mud pies.

But when the people of France rose up against the aristocracy, it was no longer safe to be rich, or titled, or to wear such pretty dresses, ride in fancy carriages, or live in a grand estate. The people had spoken, and they pursued the rich families of France with knives, stakes, and a monstrous device that shone in the sun called a guillotine, whose large blade soon stained red with the lives of the bluebloods who'd met their ends upon it.

It became so dangerous to be wealthy that the husband and wife decided it was best to send their little girl away to England to be safe. But they had no family there, and had no one they could trust but their faithful manservant. So they sent him with their little girl on a great ship, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and some money for their passage. The ship left Calais during a great storm, headed to Dover. The little girl cried at being separated from her parents, but the manservant told her this was not farewell, only à bient?t , for now. And as the ship left the harbor, the mother and father clutched each other, the ocean spray stinging their faces, mixing with their salty tears, and prayed that someday, they might see their daughter again.