Book excerpt: Cinderella - The story is always the same: a girl - hated and abused by her step-family - meets her prince at a ball. There is involvement with a glass shoe, a bit of magic, and in the end, they all live happily ever after. You've heard it before - but you've never heard it like this: In early America, at a time when dealings with dead bodies is considered taboo, Cindy's father is a mortician. She, for one, is fascinated by the controversial work, until her mother dies and her father marries Anna van Burren, who brings two new sisters into the family. Cindy's misery only grows from there. Following her father's untimely death, Cindy's life spirals into darkness as she is forced to become a servant in her own home, to wait on her hated siblings and stepmother. She has become so sequestered that she can't even let the one man she continues to think about know that she is alive. She met him once in the mortuary years ago - a handsome, curious boy who had been a surprise to her - until she'd discovered who he was. Now a man, Christian is a perfect specimen, and also the object of her step-sisters' affections. According to a stipulation of his inheritance, he must marry before age twenty-one. That day is fast approaching. Any hope Cindy had of seeing him again - or of salvaging anything that should have been left of her life - seems lost. Cindy's world is filled with misfortune. She believes she must be cursed. It takes the appearance of a strange woman who brings a wicked prophecy before Cindy can see how blessed she could become - and to see what sacrifices were made to give her hope once again.