In Holly Black’s fantasy novel The Cruel Prince, the mortal girl who wants to belong in Faerie is Jude Duarte.
Jude is taken to the High Court of Faerie with her twin sister Taryn and their older half-sister Vivi after their parents are killed. Although Jude is human, she grows up in the faerie world and wants the status, power, and acceptance available to its inhabitants. Her ambition brings her into conflict with Prince Cardan.
The novel explores political intrigue, manipulation, loyalty, and the dangers of living among immortal beings whose rules differ from human ones. Jude’s mortal nature makes her vulnerable to certain forms of faerie magic, but it also gives her a perspective that many faeries lack.
Taryn and Vivi are Jude’s sisters, while Cardan is the prince whose relationship with Jude becomes central to the plot. The Cruel Prince was published in 2018 and is the first novel in Black’s Folk of the Air trilogy, followed by The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing.