The enchanted riddle - Charlotte Kandel

Spunky and imaginative, 13 year old Daphne grew up in an orphanage in London. As the unwanted daughter of unknown parents, she has two goals: to discover the truth about who she really is, and to fulfil her lifelong dream to become a prima ballerina.Then one day she receives a mysterious package in the mail, containing a pair of magical scarlet stockings and a book containing a riddle. Daphne quickly realizes that the stockings magnify her inborn talent for dance; suddenly her dreams of fame and glory are within her reach. Her childhood demons of loneliness, self-criticism, secrecy and lack of trust walk beside her, ready to bring her to destruction, and her rival, the Prima Ballerina Assoluta, wants to see her career destroyed.Daphne wins a starring role at the Ballet Splendide and quickly becomes famous, all the while trying to uncover the secrets of the riddle and the identity of her parents. Insane with jealousy, her rival masterminds a horrible accident which Daphne barely survives. In a true test of courage, Daphne learns how to walk, and then dance again; she also discovers who her mother was and why she abandoned her as a baby. Her rival is banished from the ballet world and plots her revenge.Set in London and Paris during the 1920's, in the dance world's atmosphere of fairy tale beauty and harsh reality.