Tale tal, n. An act of telling: a narrative, story: a false story: a mere story: (in pl.) things told idly or to get others into trouble: reckoning (arch, ). (Chambers English Dictionary) Lizzie lives with her family in the mining town of Wednesbury, Staffordshire. Frustrated by the constraints put on females in the 1820s, she tells Bobbit, her damaged, younger brother, tales of independent, brave and feisty girls; girls who go on quests to put right wrongs; girls who use their prize money to set up all-female schools; girls who spurn the Prince's offer of marriage because she doesn't love him; girls who teach young princesses, not the traditional subjects of dance, art and music, but where the stars go during the daytime, where worms live and how to listen to the stories the rivers tell. Only when Bobbit takes one of her stories literally, with disastrous results, does Lizzie realise that her brother really does understand more than she, or anyone, ever thought. Real life, however, isn't a fairy tale and any bid Lizzie makes for adventure or independence is thwarted because she is a female; even her fairy tales are rejected for publication as not being 'suitable.' Lizzie has to make a decision. Is the chance of the life she has always dreamed of worth the price she will have to pay? Will it give her a happy ever after?