The release date for the English version of 'Princess Academy' by
Shannon Hale is Apr 2007. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Miri lives on a mountaintop where her family have been mining stone and living a modest existence for many centuries. Then news spreads that her little town is the future princess's home, according to a divination by the king's priests. The prince will visit the village in a year and choose his wife from among the females. Every adolescent girl is required to attend the school established by the king's ministers on the mountain in order to study how to become a princess.
Soon after, Miri is forced to deal with a strict academy mistress, fierce female rivalry, and her own contradictory wishes to be selected and win her childhood best friend's affection. But Miri has to organize the girls and utilize a power exclusive to the mountain people to defend herself and her classmates when robbers target the school in an attempt to grab the future princess.