June's Book: I, Coriander

I coerced Rebecca into choosing for this month, and here is her suggestion:

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner.
(Synopsis copied from the book flap:) "It is night, and I have lit the first of seven candles to write my story by. My name is Coriander Hobie, and I have a great many things to tell--of silver shoes that tempted me and an alligatro most rare; of London, the home of my childhood, and another, stranger land, on that I thought only existed in dreams; and of an ebony box whose treasure only now am I begining to understand. The box was once my mother's, but its secrets were meant for me. This is my story and a fairy tale besides, I will start...once upon a time."