Confessions of an ugly stepsister
Book - 2000
"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"--Publisher.
- Subjects
- Genres
- novels
Novels
Fantasy fiction
Adaptations
Fiction - Published
-
New York :
Harper
2000
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Other Authors
- Edition
- First paperback edition
- Item Description
- Cover art: Douglas Smith.
Includes reader's group guide. - Physical Description
- xii, 372 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- ISBN
- 9780060987527
- Prologue: Stories painted on porcelain
- The obscure child. Marketplace ; Stories told through windows ; Looking ; Meadow ; Sitting for Schoonmaker ; Girl with wildflowers ; Half a door ; Van den Meer's household
- The imp-riddled house. The small room of outside ; Small oils ; The masterpiece ; Rue, sage, thyme, and temper ; Reception ; Virginal ; Simples
- The girl of ashes. Flowers for the dead ; Plague and quarantine ; The nowhere windmill ; Invitations ; A fair light on a full table ; Wind and tide ; The girl of ashes ; Finery ; Spine and chamber ; Collapses
- The gallery of God's mistakes. Campaigns ; The gallery of God's mistakes ; Cinderella ; Van Stolk and van Antum ; The night before the ball ; The changeling ; Small magic ; Tulip and turnips
- The ball. The Medici ball ; Clarissa of Aragon ; Midnight ; A most unholy night ; Second slipper
- Epilogue: Stories written in oils.