The Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my favourite fairy tales when I was growing up. I loved the idea of a door into a magical fairyland where fairy folk danced the night away, and I loved that the twelve princesses in the story didn’t just sit around being bored and timid just because their father expected them to act in a certain way. The princesses in this story danced and laughed and tried their best to enjoy life, and when their father sent men to spy on them, the princesses were cunning and clever enough to outwit the silly men. But there were also parts of the story which I thought weren’t so great, like the fact that one of the men finally succeeded in outwitting the princesses and that their father, the king, who behaved so badly, never had to apologise or face up to the consequences of his actions. So, I decided to write my own version of the story – the true story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, in which we get to see just how clever, strong-minded, inventive, kind and funny these twelve sisters really are; and in which, the badly behaved men do not just get to shrug their shoulders dismissively and walk away unchallenged.