Book excerpt: After leaving an unfulfilling relationship, a young woman eats reckless amounts of doughnuts and candy, but there's never enough to fill the void inside her. One day, she comes across an audiobook exploring an old fairy tale and can't resist buying it. When she gets home and begins to listen to the recording, the voice of the cantadora--the keeper of old stories--and the tale she weaves about a wild child of the forest adopted by a wealthy old lady--feeds the young woman's starved spirit. The orphan in the fairy tale withers in the confines of the old lady's home and church until a pair of shoes made from red leather spark the child's heart. But the shoes are dangerous... Once Upon a Time Today is a collection of contemporary fairy tale retellings for those who have already left home. The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales is a prelude to the collection and includes the three short stories: "The Girl Who Watched for Elves" "The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes" "The Girl Who Couldn't Sing" Novellas in the Once Upon a Time Today collection: Beautiful Beautiful Dreaming of the Sea The Tree Hugger I Am Lily Dane