A fun, wild adventure challenging the stereotypical image of the poised, preened damsel; this princess takes life into her own hands without waiting around for anybody else.

We begin our story in a fairy tale world like any other - princesses in distress are rescued by valiant and dashing princes and live happily ever after. But for Tilly, sitting around waiting to be rescued by a prince is BORING. So … Tilly simply rescues herself! "This puny prison can’t hold me!" And it’s not long before word of Tilly’s exploits spreads across the kingdom and inspires other princesses to take their fate into their own hands, too.

TIMOTHY KNAPMAN

I studied history at Oxford, but I didn’t work very hard - something I now regret. I also wish I’d studied ancient history as well as modern (modern history at Oxford begins with the fall of the Roman Empire). Swords and battles and myths and all that - from a safe distance, of course - have become a great passion as I’ve grown older. When I left university, I wrote a few plays for grown-ups, but no one came to see them; then a friend got me translating comic Italian operas, which got people laughing and the next thing I knew, everyone was having children and I was reading lots of picture books. I didn’t think "this is easy, I could do it" but I was intrigued and inspired by the possibilities of the form: so few words, so few pages, and yet you can create worlds, and (if you work very hard and you’re really lucky) memories that children will carry for the rest of their lives.