Note: The original (1945) book was reprinted by Scholastic in 1963, and reprinted in the 60's and 70's. After the copyright expired, it was reprinted by Buccaneer Books in 1997. To reclaim at least a portion of the copyright, the book was republished by Marian's daughter in 2000 through Backinprint.com with an additional 6 chapters not in the original book. Those chapters had been written by Marian, but deleted by the publishers to shorten the book. The internal art in all editions is by Olive Bailey. The Buccaneer edition has a blank cover, all other editions have the same Olive Bailey cover.

Synopsis: In the middle of a deep forest is an enchanted valley and a castle where only shadows live, shadows of kings and queens who have waited for hundreds of years for the spell cast upon them to be broken. One day, a girl named Lucy follows a little dog through a tunnel into the valley and meets the mysterious red-haired Michael, who takes her into the shadow world to meet Prince Mika and his mortal wife Gloria, their children and their children's children, and learn the magic that will lift the spell.