In a wise and magical follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Puppets of Spelhorst, Kate DiCamillo revisits the land of Norendy, where tales swirl within tales - and where every moment is a story in the making. At the Hotel Balzaar, Marta-s mother rises before the sun, puts on her uniform and instructs her to roam as she will ... but quietly - invisibly - like a 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 while dreaming of the return of her soldier father. One day, a mysterious countess with a parrot checks in, promising a story - in fact, seven stories in all. As the stories unfold, Marta begins to wonder: could the secret to her father-s disappearance lie in the countess-s tales?
