Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Stepsister

by Jennifer Donnelly

'In an ancient city by the sea, three sisters - a maiden, a mother, and a crone - are drawing maps by candlelight. Sombre, with piercing grey eyes, they are the three Fates, and every map is a human life . . .'

Stepsister takes up where Cinderella's tale ends. We meet Isabelle, the younger of Cinderella's two stepsisters. Ella is considered beautiful; stepsister Isabelle is not. Isabelle is fearless, brave, and strong-willed. She fences better than any boy, and takes her stallion over jumps that grown men fear to attempt. It doesn't matter, though; these qualities are not valued in a girl. Others have determined what is beautiful, and Isabelle does not fit their definition. Isabelle must face down the demons that drove her cruel treatment of Ella, challenge her own fate and maybe even redefine the very notion of beauty . . .

Cinderella is about a girl who was bullied; Stepsister is about the bully. We all root for the victims, we want to see them triumph. But what about the bullies? Is there hope for them? Can a mean girl change? Can she find her own happily ever after?

Reviewed by stressedrach on

5 of 5 stars

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I had great expectations of Stepsister and it didn't let me down at all. From the very beginning, it had me hooked. I liked the idea of the tale being told of Isabelle, Ella (Cinderella's) ugly stepsister. She was horrid and cruel, we all found that out in the original fairytale but after a while the dislike of Isabelle that I had started to change. In fact, I started rooting for her and the whole moral to the story was a prominent one that may be more people should think about.

This was a fast-paced and well-written book, Jennifer Donelly has done a fantastic job here with the characters and details. It felt like I was actually in the book with them.
I am hoping that with the ending as it was, that there will be another person or people whose life map needs a little helping hand and a nudge in the right direction.
Definitely a 5 out of 5, a fantastic read.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 May, 2019: Finished reading
  • 29 May, 2019: Reviewed