Product Description

We have all heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave amongst 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 looks?

Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who is swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household - and the treacherous truth of her former life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12745 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

About the Author
Gregory Maguire is a bestselling author who has earned rave reviews and a dedicated following for Wicked. He received his doctorate in English Literature from Tufts University, and has taught at Simmons College and other Boston area colleges. He has also served as an artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Hambridge Center. Gregory has lived in Dublin and London, but now makes his home near Boston, Massachusetts, with his partner, their two sons and daughter.

Customer Reviews

A brilliant re-working of the Cinderella story
You will fall in love with plain Iris as she lives her life in the shadow of the beautiful, troubled and petulant Clara. The book explores the nature of beauty and love, painting and the early tulip trade in Holland. Full of twists and surprises. Don't miss it.

an interseting take on an old story
i actually wanted to read this book because i'd seen the film adaptation and i was interested i where the idea had come from. the film itself while intinsically the same varies in a few ways, so dont assume you can skip the book and watch the film. But i'd advise you not to skip the book as it is beautifully written and a joy to read. it's a real page turner of a book. i loved it because i just love that whole reinventing a fairytale concept.

Beautiful re-telling
This review relates to the paperback edition.

During an enforced 3-hour stopover at Los Angeles airport I found this and couldn't resist the cover or the blurb. I haven't read/seen any of his books, so had nothing with which to compare this, and I loved it. It runs alongside Cinderella in a non-parallel line which every now and again curves in to touch the fairy story and remind us of the original, but at the same time keeps very much to its own path. The setting of 17th-century Holland is evocative and atmospheric, including the use of art and the tulip-trade, the machinations of the desperate Margarethe are terrible and at the same time understandable, and Iris is - well, she's lovely. There are comments in some reviews that there is no magic in this book and strictly speaking that's true, but there is definitely more than a hint of something other-worldly and dangerous that lurks in the background and pervades the atmosphere of this book.

The illustrations are lovely - I hope they have been kept in the hardback edition.