A retelling of the Grimm tale 'The Goose Girl'. Princess Ani learns from her aunt to talk to birds as a child, but then her aunt disappears (and later dies), and her overbearing mother isolates her to keep her away from all animals and friends. She grows up shy and passive and at age 18 is married off to the kingdom to the north. On the way there, her maid-in-waiting carries out a plot to get rid of Ani and present herself to the king as the true princess. Ani escapes and circumstances force her to become a servant (a goose herder) while she tries to figure out how to get her birthright back. She learns to become both self-reliant and assertive, and finds new friends among the Forest-born forced to come to the city to do menial work to survive. A nice, quiet tale, though somewhat predictable. The prose is excellent, though, and it's a perfect late-night-curled-up-in-bed book.