Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

This novel was about a girl named Isabel who is a peasant in a medieval village. She happens to be the daughter of a knight in the King’s palace but she is unaware throughout her life. She is raised by adoptive parents who teach her to be respectful. The story is an alternative Cinderella with a King Arthur twist. Bella’s adoptive mother is a wet nurse for the Prince so he often comes over to visit her and he becomes friends with Bella. During the war that is going on, Bella is forced to go back to live with her father in the palace but finds that he is cruel and she is treated badly by her stepmother. Julian is captured during this war and held hostage. When he is freed he returns how to find that Bella is not in the village. She returns later from the war wounded, and Julian asks for her hand in marriage. This alternative fairy tale is great because it shows the girl as the hero in the story. Often times the male figure is shown as the hero who saves the life of the girl, but in this story Bella goes out of her way to save her childhood friend, now fiancé.