Cora Catlin is a misfit at best, and an outcast at worst. She feels out
of place, as if everything is backward and something is missing from her
life. Her well-meaning mother tries to force her unstylish physique into
new school clothes while the school bullies look on and laugh. She is
picked on at school and dreads the start of a new year. Her loving
father fills Cora's emotional void with sweets and ill-conceived
support, leaving Cora in a tug-of-war between her parents and within
herself.
And then, on her first day of middle school, everything changes when,
while taking a shortcut through the woods, Cora encounters an elfin
stranger who speaks to her of the magical world of Clouden, an entire
kingdom hidden up in the sky. This is the kingdom, he tells her, of her
real parents and where she truly belongs.
Cora can't wait to leave her boring, humdrum life behind. As she travels
to her new home, where children sprout from the ground and rivers flow
with chocolate, she finds herself transformed on the outside to the
beautiful girl she has always been inside. And if that weren't enough,
she has to adjust to royal parents, a talking Pegasus, a raging war, and
an alluring love interest as well.
Exploring this new land, Cora unearths wonders and secrets beyond her
wildest imaginings, discovering the meaning of true friendship, love,
and what it means to feel whole in the clouds.