Paperback, 368 pages
English language
Published Feb. 23, 1999 by Regan Books.
E-book extras: "Cinderilla or, The Little Glass Slipper" (read the original version of the classic fairy tale); reading group guide.From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale.In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats....We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. 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 . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?Is this new land a place where magics really happen?Extreme beauty is an afflictionSet against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an …
E-book extras: "Cinderilla or, The Little Glass Slipper" (read the original version of the classic fairy tale); reading group guide.From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale.In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats....We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. 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 . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?Is this new land a place where magics really happen?Extreme beauty is an afflictionSet 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. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister.Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale?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.God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes!Far 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.
This is a re-telling of the Cinderella story. It's not the Disney version or the Brothers Grimm version, it's an entirely new take on a thousand-year-old story (yes, there are versions of Cinderella that old). It's a very entertaining read, though not as stellar as Maguire's first blockbuster release, "Wicked."
An amazing novel. The best written, most well-crafted piece of writing I have had the pleasure of reading in years. Satisfying on so many levels. For all his flowery prose, Gregory Maguire nevertheless has such a gift of economy with words, a capacity to capture character in sly turns both comic and bittersweet. There are passages here that I had to revisit over & again, in awe of how many things such few words could accomplish to advance plot, reveal character, challenge the reader. Much more so than he's even done in his more well-known Oz reinventions (Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men), here he really succeeds on so many levels to turn the familiar into something brand new and meaningful, yet simultaneously manages to preserve and honor the source material. A triumph. Anyone who wants to be a writer had better pay heed: this is …
An amazing novel. The best written, most well-crafted piece of writing I have had the pleasure of reading in years. Satisfying on so many levels. For all his flowery prose, Gregory Maguire nevertheless has such a gift of economy with words, a capacity to capture character in sly turns both comic and bittersweet. There are passages here that I had to revisit over & again, in awe of how many things such few words could accomplish to advance plot, reveal character, challenge the reader. Much more so than he's even done in his more well-known Oz reinventions (Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men), here he really succeeds on so many levels to turn the familiar into something brand new and meaningful, yet simultaneously manages to preserve and honor the source material. A triumph. Anyone who wants to be a writer had better pay heed: this is how it is done, folks. An amazing novel.
