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. 1.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. These seven books take that idea even further, allowing readers to hear the other side of the story of classic tales. It's a whole different story than the one that started with Dorothy and ended with the Wicked Witch melting from a bucket of water.įairy tale retellings have been stocking the bookshelves in the past few years, giving a science fiction, feminist bent to Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White, or letting Tiger Lily talk about Peter Pan from her perspective, or imagining what would have happened if Aladdin never found the genie and the lamp. From Elphaba's point of view, Glinda is a bit of a self-absorbed princess, and she has been bullied because of her green skin. After all, no matter how flat a pancake is, there are always two sides.ĭon't know what I'm talking about? A iconic example these days is Wicked, the production based on Gregory Maguire's book that gives the real story of the Wicked Witch of the West. A lot of stories are narrated by characters that are morally questionable or even straight-up evil, but these books take traditional villains from classic literature, fairy tales, and other books and let them tell their side of the story.

Ever since I read The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs when I learned to read back in kindergarten, a picture book that shows the Big Bad Wolf as a sick wolf with a sneeze and the three pigs who wouldn't let him inside for help, I have been obsessed with books told from the villain's perspective.

Gregory maguire cinderella