The Selection is a young adult novel by Kiera Cass first published on April 14, 2012, by HarperCollins. It is the first in a five-book series, followed by The Elite (2013), The One (2014), The Heir (2015) and The Crown (May 2016). The last two take place twenty years after the events in the first three. In addition, four spin-off novellas were released. The first two, The Prince and The Guard, are narrated from the point of view of two supporting characters. The Queen and The Favorite are prequels, focusing on two other supporting characters in the main series. All four novellas were collected into one volume Happily Ever After, including bonus content and epilogues. Kiera Cass stated that she began writing The Selection after thinking about the differences between Esther and Cinderella, wondering if either of them were happy with how they ended up. She also commented that she had written the book "from start to finish", while her writing process for the other books differed. Source: Wikipedia (en)