Kerrin Mayham's eye for beauty has shaped her life. Now a mother, she wants to teach her daughter that beauty can be both nourishing and treacherous. However, Mirabella is far too young to hear the truth of her mother's hard-won knowledge, so Kerrin wraps a fantastical bedtime story of magic shoes, enchanted oak trees, witches, and sad kings around actual events. As mother tells the story and daughter interjects, Kerrin can't help but return to her past when she was at the pinnacle of her career as an independent film director. Seduced by a beautiful young predator, she takes a risk that puts her life in danger and shakes the core of her identity. Finally forced to ask the hard questions about the demons that drive her, Kerrin doesn't flinch. Her honest answers deepen her experience of life--and her eye for beauty. The novella is a retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale "Beautiful." (Adult language & situations, no explicit sex) The is a prelude to the collection and includes the three short stories: v "The Girl Who Watched for Elves" "The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes" "The Girl Who Couldn't Sing" Novellas in the collection: