Madeleine Dubois has four kids to wrangle, a divorce to finalize, and two surgeries on the calendar before lunch. The last thing she needs is a kitchen full of unwashed medieval emissaries demanding that she save their kingdom.

But the "chosen one" they came for isn't a dreamy fifteen-year-old girl-it's Madeleine, a very tired, very under-caffeinated, thirty-nine-year-old orthopedic surgeon.

Dragons, destiny, and magic don't scare her nearly as much as missed school buses and preschool pickups. With a sharp tongue and sharper common sense, Madeleine faces down prophecy, rewrites the script, and proves that sometimes real life is the best training ground for saving the world.

Witty, warm, and a delightfully irreverent short story, The (Highly Efficient) Chosen One will appeal to readers who love the absurd problem-solving of Jasper Fforde, the modern fairytale edge of T. Kingfisher, and the everyday-meets-fantasy charm of Jenny Colgan.