The Charmed Wife

by Olga Grushin

"Genre-bending and darkly comic, Grushin's fourth novel is a weird and wonderful triumph." –O, the Oprah Magazine

Cinderella wants her Prince Charming dead in this sophisticated fairy-tale for the twenty-first century.

Cinderella married the man of her dreams--the perfect ending she deserved after diligently following all the fairy-tale rules. Yet now, thirteen and a half years later, things have gone badly wrong and her life is far from perfect. One night, fed up and exhausted, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the Witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. Instead, she wants him dead.

Endlessly surprising, wildly inventive, and decidedly modern, The Charmed Wife weaves together time and place, fantasy and reality, to conjure a world unlike any other. Nothing in it is quite what it seems--the twists and turns of its magical, dark, and swiftly shifting paths take us deep into the heart of what makes us unique, of romance and marriage, and of the very nature of storytelling.

• ISBN10: 0593085507
• ISBN13: 9780593085509
• Publish Date: 12 January 2021
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: G P Putnam's Sons
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593085509

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

Three stars here because I can't do half stars and this is somewhere between three and four for me.
Someone else reviewed the book and said, "This book is not what you think it is." And honestly, that's the best description for this book. It's subversive of the princess stereotype, which I like, but it also explores family dynamics, how perception shapes them, mental illness/instability, and some substance abuse.
It took my awhile to read - not because the story isn't interesting, but I just wasn't motivated to finish it as much as I was to start. I'm thinking that I'm not the right reader for the book.
Possibly recommend to people who enjoy touches of magical realism that touch on sensitive topics.