Bella at Midnight (review)

The heroine of this fairy-tale-flavored novel, Bella, was born into tragic circumstances: her mother died soon after childbirth and her already distant father, blaming the newborn for the loss of the one thing he loved, sent the baby to live with a peasant family. Years later, Bella is shocked to learn that she hasn't been living with her birth parents, and that her actual father, a wealthy knight, has sent for her to live with him, his new wife, and her two daughters. Meanwhile, Alice, grief-stricken from her father's death, barely notices her mother's new marriage, her new home, or her new stepsister, Bella. Things change, however, when Bella needs her stepsister's help in embarking on a daring attempt to preserve the much-needed truce between their home and a neighboring town, while also saving the life of her own true love. Bella is the central focus of the novel, and her growth into a creative and intrepid savior of the towns (and her beau) adds resonance to the unexpected finale. Though the varying perspectives (there are fourteen chapters narrated by nine different characters) and two parallel plots make for a rather complicated structure, these are also the elements that help make this an engaging novel, as the various characters provide insight into Bella's motivations that she herself only realizes at the end. A little bit of war, quite a bit of innocent romance, and enchanted tools that help the heroine but don't guarantee victory all add up to an enjoyable fairy-tale novel for the middle-school set.