When the zombies come, Ella's stepmother Perra leaves Ella to die. This comes after Perra demoted Ella to barefoot, patched-clothes servant girl, and after Perra's daughters ridiculed Ella and stole from her.

Ella is pure at heart. Ella's fairy godmother Pinecone gives Ella a magic necklace to protect her from zombies, which only someone pure at heart can wear. Because Ella is pure at heart, her mother's dying words to her are "Stay good and kind."

Then Perra locks Ella out of the house when the zombies come. Why doesn't Ella die? Because Ella's magic necklace, it turns out, empowers her to command zombies.

Ella wants to keep her promise to her mother, to "Stay good and kind." But more and more, Ella is tempted-oh, so much tempted-to feed her stepmother and stepsisters to the zombies.

When Ella finally gets the chance to either stay good or to zombie-murder Perra, which will Ella choose?

Meanwhile, handsome Prince Cabolus, who is fifth in line for the Kingdom of Lionbear throne, is fighting zombies. The king has not ordered him to fight zombies, but Prince Cabolus is a brave man.

READER AGE: 12 and older. The novel contains mild references to prostitution, gory descriptions of zombies (and of their antics), detailed descriptions of ballgowns, and Disney in-jokes.

Tags: action, alternate universe, Cinderella, eighteenth century, fairy tale, female protagonist, magic, romance, virtue rewarded, YA, young adult, zombies, zombie apocalypse

The novel is 87,600 words.