Notes From the Manufacturer
& Editorial Review
Product Description
Is this new land a place where magics really happen? 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? Extreme beauty is an affliction 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. 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.
Amazon.com
Gregory Maguire's chilling, wonderful retelling of Cinderella is a study in contrasts. Love and hate, beauty and ugliness, cruelty and charity--each idea is stripped of its ethical trappings, smashed up against its opposite number, and laid bare for our examination. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister begins in 17th-century Holland, where the two Fisher sisters and their mother have fled to escape a hostile England. Maguire's characters are at once more human and more fanciful than their fairy-tale originals. Plain but smart Iris and her sister, Ruth, a hulking simpleton, are dazed and terrified as their mother, Margarethe, urges them into the strange Dutch streets. Within days, purposeful Margarethe has secured the family a place in the home of an aspiring painter, where for a short time, they find happiness. But this is Cinderella, after all, and tragedy is inevitable. When a wealthy tulip speculator commissions the painter to capture his blindingly lovely daughter, Clara, on canvas, Margarethe jumps at the chance to better their lot. "Give me room to cast my eel spear, and let follow what may," she crows, and the Fisher family abandons the artist for the upper-crust Van den Meers. When Van den Meer's wife dies during childbirth, the stage is set for Margarethe to take over the household and for Clara to adopt the role of "Cinderling" in order to survive. What follows is a changeling adventure, and of course a ball, a handsome prince, a lost slipper, and what might even be a fairy godmother. In a single magic night, the exquisite and the ugly swirl around in a heated mix: Everything about this moment hovers, trembles, all their sweet, unreasonable hopes on view before anything has had the chance to go wrong. A stepsister spins on black and white tiles, in glass slippers and a gold gown, and two stepsisters watch with unrelieved admiration. The light pours in, strengthening in its golden hue as the sun sinks and the evening approaches. Clara is as otherworldly as the Donkeywoman, the Girl-Boy. Extreme beauty is an affliction... But beyond these familiar elements, Maguire's second novel becomes something else altogether--a morality play, a psychological study, a feminist manifesto, or perhaps a plain explanation of what it is to be human. Villains turn out to be heroes, and heroes disappoint. The story's narrator wryly observes, "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." --Therese Littleton
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Reviews
i love it even after the third time reading it
i cannot recommend this book highly enough. a great adult fairy tale, it leaves you wanting more the whole way through-and the twists!
you have got to read it for yourself.
i cannot wait for him to write my next favorite book!
good car listening
I got this book on CD and listen to it while driving.Was OK for driving ...I guess.But oh my God! this Clara is a disater of a "good, kind " Cinderella that we all know.The thing is I felt the dark and cold days of Holland , the boring long winter that droves people inward...
Unfortunately the most important branch of the story was not developed - the paintings, colors, their efect on people's lifes and why we love them so much.Too bad.
I found ending the most interesting part.
The book should not be read but listen to it when driving long distances Ha Ha Ha
A new voice ...
Gregory Maguire has made "backstory" big business -- you know the history of an old beloved tale told with new information, usually providing a new view of the characters, or a view from a new perspective as childhood -- as he did in "Wicked." I read "Confessions..." several years after I read "Wicked" and was misdirected because I did not realize that he suited the tone of the book (also highly experimental) to the tone of the environment. After reading another of his books, I realized the cold tone and sparse dialogue, were indicative of the coldness of the story as well a the climatic surroundings in a northern European country. Having used this technique myself in one of my favorite ever writing classes, I also have a greater appreciation of what Maguire does so very well. He recycles literature -- old favorite tales in such a contemporary and clever way that it is difficult to put down. His writing is rich, colorful and very satisfying.
Not as good as Wicked - but not bad.
I confess I loved Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction). So, my expectations were high for this one. Where Wicked had interesting political re-interpretations, this one does not.
It's not bad. It's still a unique re-interpretation of an old classic, with the focus on Maguire's truth of how the two ugly stepsisters in the classic Cinderalla story came to be these mythical, reviled women.
Maguire's always had a long-winded style - in Wicked, I felt the story more than justified bearing with it. In this one, it's just barely bearable.
Good Order!
Gregory Mcguire is an excellent author and he brings his stories to life in a way no other fantasy author can.
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Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel
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