Although it does follow the basic Cinderella outline, it is so much more than a fairytale. Eventually Clara and her sisters devise a secret plan, and the fairy tale (complete with a pumpkin carriage) finally comes to life. By this time, Clara has willingly transformed herself into the familiar Cinderella character, and at first she has no plans to attend the ball. When the family ends up on the verge of bankruptcy, Margarethe devises a plan to introduce her daughters to the Prince of Marsillac at a ball being held in his honor. Margarethe eventually marries a wealthy man who has a beautiful daughter, Clara, a self-proclaimed changeling who is extremely difficult and refuses to leave her home. Told from the younger sister's perspective, the story focuses on the Fisher women's struggle to survive. The novel is set in seventeenth-century Holland, where two homely-looking sisters, Iris and Ruth, have fled from England with their mother, Margarethe. 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister' is Gregory Maguire's twisted take on the classic Cinderella fairytale. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes!įar more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed-and love unveiled-in the most unexpected of places.

Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household-and the treacherous truth of her former life. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister.Ĭlara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale? Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks? But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty. We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats. In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. Is this new land a place where magics really happen?įrom Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale.

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