Everyone is shocked when the king's priests predict that the prince's future bride

Author/Illustrator: Shannon Hale 
Format: Hardcover
Published: Bloomsbury, 2005

Everyone is shocked when the king's priests predict that the prince's future bride will come from a tiny, hardscrabble village high on Mount Eskel. Unaccustomed to the lowlanders fancy ways, all of the eligible village girls are forced to leave their homes to live at a special finishing school to prepare them to meet the prince. There they encounter a frequently cruel mistress and growing competition among themselves. Miri, a delightful heroine, must prove herself and her village worthy of any king.