"Korean-American middle-grader Mihi Whan Park and two friends fall into a storybook-land princess school, and quickly realize that escaping a storybook is a lot harder than falling into one."-- Provided by publisher.

At the Hotel Balzaar, Marta's mother rises before the sun, puts on her uniform, and instructs Marta to roam as she will but quietly, invisibly like a little mouse. While her mother cleans rooms, Marta slips down the back staircase to the grand lobby to chat with the bellman, study the painting of an angel's wing over the fireplace, and watch a cat chase a mouse around the face of the grandfather clock, all the while dreaming of the return of her soldier...