Ella finds Lucinda at the wedding, but instead of breaking the spell, Lucinda instructs Ella that she should love her obedience. Fortunately, Charmont and his knights discover Ella and the ogres, and help her reach the giant’s wedding. Despite this, Ella is unable to escape: She has been ordered to not run away. A group of ogres stop her, but Ella is able to use her words to charm them to sleep. A group of elves help Ella, giving her gifts and supplies for the journey. Ella flees school, trying to make it to the wedding she hopes that Lucinda will be able to reverse her spell and give Ella back her free will. She sends her on errands and is cruel to her, using Ella’s obedience against her.Įlla learns that Lucinda might be attending the giant’s wedding. Hattie turns Ella into her personal servant. Ella is distraught on their way to school, Hattie makes a dangerous discovery-that Ella does whatever she is told. She finds ways to care for her, such as by giving her an enchanted book of fairy tales.Įlla’s father, Sir Peter, tells Ella that she is to go to finishing school-with Hattie and Olive. Unfortunately, Mandy is not able to reverse Lucinda’s spell Mandy has strict principles about only using “small magic.” Mandy loves Ella like a daughter. Hattie and Olive have horrible temperaments, and Ella does not like them.Įlla learns that Mandy is her fairy godmother.

After the funeral, there is a dinner and Ella meets Dame Olga and her daughters, Hattie and Olive. She runs into the graveyard to grieve alone, but meets Prince Charmont. Ella is devastated at her mother’s funeral. That is until Lady Eleanor falls ill and dies. This does not stop people from telling Ella to do things, and she always obeys.Īs she grows up, Ella loves to laugh and play with the cook, Mandy, and her mother. She tells Ella to keep Lucinda’s spell a secret. Lady Eleanor, Ella’s mother, can see that this gift might be problematic. This causes problems for Ella, but Lucinda’s intentions were pure when she bestowed the gift. Upon Ella’s birth, a fairy named Lucinda gifts her with obedience, so that no matter what people tell her to do, she does it without question, regardless of how strange the command may be. She is celebrated for her nonfiction children’s book about the craft of writing, Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly.Įlla Enchanted is a novel based on the fairy tale of Cinderella. Levine is also known for her picture books Betsy Who Cried Wolf and Betsy Red Hoodie. Some of her other notable works include Dave at Night, The Wish, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, and Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. She also wrote Fairest, which retells Snow White’s story and is set in the same world as Ella Enchanted.

Gail carson levine