Heartless

In her #1 New York Times-bestselling stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author of the Lunar Chronicles dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — the untold story of the Queen of Hearts!

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.
 
Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

“In Heartless, the nonsense that is Wonderland gets a reverential makeover, full of heart and its own idiosyncratic character.” Gregory Maguire, Wicked and After Alice

“Meyer’s worldbuilding is extensive and impressive, and the persistent threat of a destructive Jabberwock lends tension.” Publishers Weekly

“Evokes the best whimsies from Lewis Carroll’s classic while giving the Queen of Hearts a backstory that may soften her most fearful haters.” Entertainment Weekly

Marissa Meyer is the USA Today- and New York Times-bestselling author of the Lunar Chronicles: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Fairest: Levana's Story, and Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection.