Reviewed by Silvara on
I loved this twist on the usual Cinderella story. The step-family isn't actually wicked, and Isabella (Ella) is manipulative and tells lies about them to anyone who will listen to her. They're poor and the only reason they have food to eat most of the time, is because the two daughters (Jane and Maude) do all the housework and tend to the animals.
They make butter and cheese, collect eggs from the chickens, and Jane sews most of their clothing. Their mother is delusional most of the time. She refuses to acknowledge that they are not the rich and important family they had been when the mother was growing up. So she is willfully ignorant that her daughters are basically servants in the home that is falling down around their ears. But the daughters are somewhat helping with that because they don't bring up anything in front of their mother that would make her face reality.
There are threads of romance in the book, not just for Jane and Maude, but for Ella as well. There is also a bit of 'be careful what you wish for' towards the end of the book. I really liked Jane, she was easy to connect with, and I also loved the forest family. Especially Will. There were a number of funny moments in the book, and quite a few references to the Cinderella story, especially where the author was able to put bits in that were done in an amusing way.
My only irk, is that in the beginning when Ella and her father come to stay, there is a scene where Ella is yelling at her step-mother because she took Ella's mother's jewels to hold for her until Ella is older (she's 13 then.) And yet, the family spends the next year or more starving because they have no money to buy food. Where did the jewels go? But other than that, I really enjoyed this retelling and will be buying my own physical copy of it. If you haven't read it yet, you should!
This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 13 May, 2016: Finished reading
- 13 May, 2016: Reviewed