I thought this little story would be more subversive than it was, but other than the twist of having an ordinary-looking and acting girl as its princess and main character, it pretty much follows the standard fairy tale line. So she runs away to the forest though she soon winds up working as a kitchen maid in the castle of a neighboring kingdom. Amy catches wind of the plan and decides it's a terrible scheme on so many levels. The despairing parents of princess Amethyst (known as Amy) decide to import a dragon to terrorize the country and promise the hand of the (unseen) princess to whichever unsuspecting prince offs the dragon. Even if she has Charm and Courage and Wit. It turns out that most royalty and nobility want to marry a princess who's gorgeous, not one with straight, mousy brown hair and a turned-up, freckled nose. well, actually, this story is mostly about the youngest sister of those princesses, whose fairy godmother took one look at the list of all the gifts this princess received at her christening, like Charm and Courage and Grace and Wit, and promptly decreed, 'This princess shall be Ordinary!' And so she was. This is a straight-up, no-holds-barred fairy tale, with lovely princesses who wear crowns and beautiful gowns and genteelly toss golden balls to each other and never get dirty or sweaty. This one's for all you fairy tale lovers out there.

Kaye was awarded the Colonel James Tod International Award by the Maharana Mewar Foundation of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for her 'contribution of permanent value reflecting the spirit and values of Mewar'. Her autobiography has been published in three volumes, collectively entitled Share of Summer: The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. She also wrote and illustrated The Ordinary Princess, a children's book and authored a dozen detective novels, including Death in Kashmir and Death in Zanzibar.

This was followed by Shadow of the Moon and Trade Wind. Kaye won worldwide fame for The Far Pavilions, which became a worldwide best-seller on publication in 1978. Kaye followed the drum to Kenya, Zanzibar, Egypt, Cyprus and Germany. After India's independence, her husband, Major-General Goff Hamilton of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (the famous Indian Army regiment featured in The Far Pavilions), joined the British Army and for the next nineteen years M. Her family ties with the country are strong: her grandfather, father, brother and husband all served the British Raj. Kaye (Mary Margaret) was born in India and spent her early childhood and much of her early-married life there.

The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye