Confessions of an ugly stepsister
Edition: First paperback edition
Publisher: ReganBooks
Published: 2000
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 372
ISBN-13: 9780060987527
Copyright date: 1999
Subjects: Beauty, Personal -- Fiction; Fairy tales -- Adaptations; Stepsisters -- Fiction; Large type books; Haarlem (Netherlands) -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.; Adaptations.
Description: From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale. 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? 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. 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. 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.
Notes: ReganBooks, an imprint of Harper-Collins Publishers.
Table of contents: label: Prologue
title: Stories Painted on Porcelain
pagenum: xiii; label: 1
title: The Obscure Child
pagenum: 1; title: Marketplace
pagenum: 3; title: Stories Told Through Windows
pagenum: 12; title: Looking
pagenum: 18; title: Meadow
pagenum: 28; title: Sitting for Schoonmaker
pagenum: 33; title: Girl with Wildflowers
pagenum: 45; title: Half a Door
pagenum: 54; title: Van den Meer's Household
pagenum: 64; label: 2
title: The Imp-Riddled House
pagenum: 77; title: The Small Room of Outside
pagenum: 79; title: Small Oils
pagenum: 98; title: The Masterpiece
pagenum: 105; title: Rue. Sage, Thyme and Temper
pagenum: 109; title: Reception
pagenum: 117; title: Virginal
pagenum: 123; title: Simples
pagenum: 129; label: 3
title: The Girl of Ashes
pagenum: 139; title: Flowers for the Dead
pagenum: 141; title: Plague and Quarantine
pagenum: 152; title: The Nowhere Windmill
pagenum: 160; title: Invitations
pagenum: 171; title: A Fair Light on a Full Table
pagenum: 184; title: Wind and Tide
pagenum: 196; title: The Girl of Ashes
pagenum: 204; title: Finery
pagenum: 211; title: Spine and Chamber
pagenum: 221; title: Collapses
pagenum: 226; label: 4
title: The Gallery of God's Mistakes
pagenum: 231; title: Campaigns
pagenum: 233; title: The Gallery of God's Mistakes
pagenum: 241; title: Cinderella
pagenum: 253; title: Van Stolk and van Antum
pagenum: 257; title: The Night Before the Ball
pagenum: 266; title: The Changeling
pagenum: 281; title: Small Magic
pagenum: 284; title: Tulip and Turnips
pagenum: 292; label: 5
title: The Ball
pagenum: 301; title: The Medici Ball
pagenum: 303; title: Clarissa of Aragon
pagenum: 322; title: Midnight
pagenum: 334; title: A Most Unholy Night
pagenum: 345; title: The Second Slipper
pagenum: 351; label: Epilogue
title: Stories Written in Oils
pagenum: 360