Kate Middleton is the girl everyone wants to be.

Catherine Elizabeth "Kate" Middleton is living a perfect Cinderella fairy tale. She is the woman who won the heart of Britain's most desirable bachelor.

Academically gifted and sophisticated beyond her years, this dark-haired beauty possesses the natural poise and impeccable breeding necessary for the wife-to-be of the heir to the throne. She has charmed Prince William and his circle and captivated the entire House of Windsor. Yet there is a history behind her polished veneer that would surprise any royal court observer—an extraordinary, inspiring, and deeply moving tale of an impoverished working-class family that overcame deprivation and adversity to rise to the upper echelons of British society.

Based on exclusive and intimate interviews with Kate's closest friends and relatives, and containing photographs, many published here for the very first time, Claudia Joseph's Kate is a fascinating portrait of the extraordinary young woman who may be queen—and the story of a family's remarkable journey from the mining villages of Durham to an apartment in the royal residence of Clarence House.