Review of Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hocchauser

A retelling of the fairytale Cinderella but from the stepmother’s perspective. Following the death of her second husband, Ethel is in charge of raising her daughters Rosie and Matilde along with her new stepdaughter, Elin. All she wants is a certain future for her daughters after being left poor from her late husband’s debts. When it’s announced that a ball is to be thrown at the castle, the women are overjoyed as the prince is searching for a wife. But only Elin is invited to the ball, and Ethel believes her daughters are uninvited because of her history with the queen.

There were so many layers of the original fairytale mapped into the novel. It was fun spotting the connections to the Disney Cinderella we all know. But the novel took a dark turn, straying from the path of where I thought the story was going. A bold retelling of the beloved fairytale where the wicked stepmother is a woman with the best intentions for her daughters, battling the daily challenges of being a widower in a time where marriage means respectability and social standing is a cruel currency.

Published on 05.03.2026 by Orion

Reviewed by Vic

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