Author(s): Jen Storer

Childrens

Matilda hesitated, then something pinched the back of her hand. She gasped and withdrew her arm. 'Ow!' she cried, but it didn't really hurt. There was a tiny red mark on the back of her hand. Matilda held her hand before her and noticed that the pinch mark was in the faint outline of a lilac flower. How odd, she thought, and for a second she forgot to be scared ...Inside the hedge two sets of glittering emerald eyes observed her through the heart-shaped leaves. 'It is the princess!' whispered a tiny voice.' Matilda and Iris Valentine don't get along they're as different as sisters can be. When Matilda steals Iris's lucky penny and hides it in the lilac hedge, she receives a strange pinch mark on her hand. Little does she know she has been claimed by the hedge folk as their princess. Matilda is drawn into the wonderful, magic world of the lilac hedge and finds they believe she is part of a prophecy - that she will save them from wicked invading imps, a giant malevolent toad, and a terrifying witch who the hedgefolk fear will return to destroy them. Despite her fears and doubts, Matilda agrees to help rescue a kidnapped pixie, Waif. But she will need her big sister's help, and now that she has accidentally become a princess, Iris is even less impressed with her ...Will Iris help her in her quest to save the hedge and its fairy folk, or could Iris really be so jealous that she would hand her own sister over to the evil Witch Queen of Trogmire?