Lauren
Lady Tremaine is the infamous “evil stepmother” Etheldreda’s side of the Cinderella fairy tale. That is all I knew going into this book. It is worth noting this is not a fairytale in itself, as is not magical or full of whimsy. It is a historical fiction placing this tale in the real world.
This is somehow the fourth book I’ve read this year about motherhood, and I know I have one more on my physical TBR. It is odd considering I actually really do not enjoy books about motherhood, but here we are. And I did enjoy this one.
I’ve seen people complain that the protagonist of this book is not evil, and while I agree, I also push back on the notion that she is good. In fact, she herself also pushes back on this idea. I will not provide specific examples to avoid spoilers, but there are many times I wondered if I was suppose to feel sympathy towards her or dislike, and that is the point. She loves her daughters deeply and wants to right all the wrongs she had faced through them, for better or worse. This causes her to act selfishly, to be cruel, to hurt people. This causes her to even harm her daughters in a way, turning them into copies of herself. And the cause of this all stems back to womanhood and motherhood. I will say it again: That is the point.
Throughout history women have been pitted against each other and given little to no rights in most parts of the world. It is really only in recent decades women have gained independence from their husbands, and even then women do not have the same rights as many of their male counterparts. This story explores this idea by showing us how different women (particularly one trying to fake her way to a better life and one living in wealth) approach life, each other, and the lengths they are willing to go to for their children.
So no, Etheldrea is not cartoonishly evil like she is in the source material, but she is deeply flawed and complicated. She is sometimes a character you root for and other times completely unlikable. Her daughters and the the Cinderella character are similar in this way too. None of them are perfect. None of them are “good” or “evil.” They are all simply women trying to survive.
Lady Tremaine is the infamous “evil stepmother” Etheldreda’s side of the Cinderella fairy tale. That is all I knew going into this book. It is worth noting this is not a fairytale in itself, as is not magical or full of whimsy. It is a historical fiction placing this tale in the real world.
This is somehow the fourth book I’ve read this year about motherhood, and I know I have one more on my physical TBR. It is odd considering I actually really do not enjoy books about motherhood, but here we are. And I did enjoy this one.
I’ve seen people complain that the protagonist of this book is not evil, and while I agree, I also push back on the notion that she is good. In fact, she herself also pushes back on this idea. I will not provide specific examples to avoid spoilers, but there are many times I wondered if I was suppose to feel sympathy towards her or dislike, and that is the point. She loves her daughters deeply and wants to right all the wrongs she had faced through them, for better or worse. This causes her to act selfishly, to be cruel, to hurt people. This causes her to even harm her daughters in a way, turning them into copies of herself. And the cause of this all stems back to womanhood and motherhood. I will say it again: That is the point.
Throughout history women have been pitted against each other and given little to no rights in most parts of the world. It is really only in recent decades women have gained independence from their husbands, and even then women do not have the same rights as many of their male counterparts. This story explores this idea by showing us how different women (particularly one trying to fake her way to a better life and one living in wealth) approach life, each other, and the lengths they are willing to go to for their children.
So no, Etheldrea is not cartoonishly evil like she is in the source material, but she is deeply flawed and complicated. She is sometimes a character you root for and other times completely unlikable. Her daughters and the the Cinderella character are similar in this way too. None of them are perfect. None of them are “good” or “evil.” They are all simply women trying to survive.