Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
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| Author | Gregory Maguire |
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| Cover artist | Douglas Smith |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | November 1, 1999 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 368 (Hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-06-039282-7 (Hardback), ISBN 0-06-098752-9 (Paperback) |
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel by Gregory Maguire, retelling the tale of Cinderella through the eyes of her "ugly stepsisters." It puts a new view on this age-old fairy tale, questioning how wicked her stepmother truly was, how cruel her stepsisters were, and it asks: was she really forced into becoming the maid of the household, or was it assumed of her own accord?
In 2002, the book was produced into a movie of the same name.[1]
[edit] Plot
The story follows Iris, the painfully plain faced younger daughter of Margarethe Fisher, as she takes care of her mentally challenged older sister, Ruth, and, later her stepsister, Clara. Having fled from England to Haarlem, Iris is slightly at odds with the world and often contemplates of the value of beauty and ugliness. While caring for her sisters and keeping the peace between Clara and Margarethe, Iris begins to develop the eye of a painter and takes some time to apprentice with a local painter known only as, The Master, and his apprentice, Caspar.
On the verge of losing everything they have gained after a sudden drop in their stock market, Margerethe devises a plan for her two daughters, Iris and Ruth, to attend the ball being held in honor of the Dowager Queen of France and her godson, Prince of Marsillac. Leaving out Clara, who, she knows full well would abandon her new family in the poor house if wed to the prince instead. While there, Ruth does the unthinkable for jealousy and love of Clara and Master. That night fairy tale of Cinderella and her pumpkin carriage is spun, and the next morning her prince comes to collect her.
[edit] Characters
- Iris Fisher is the one whom the story follows as she views the events that would become the fairy tale. She is the younger daughter of Margarethe Fisher and Jack Fisher, and younger sister to Ruth Fisher. Later, she is also the older stepsister to Clara. She is described as so plain faced it could bring a man to tears, and several times refers to herself as a hound. Over the course of the story Iris develops an interest in art, painting, and Caspar, but firmly denies it.
- Margarethe ten Broek Fisher van den Meer is the mother of Iris and Ruth Fisher, and later becomes the stepmother of Clara after marrying her father. Her motives for marrying Clara’s father are purely to keep herself and her daughters fed; whether she loves Clara’s father is unstated and unlikely, especially given her motto of "Give me room to cast my eel spear, and let follow what may", but she is reasonably kind to him. It is hinted that the Master is interested in Margarethe, but his feelings are not returned.
- Ruth Fisher is the older mute daughter of Margarethe Fisher.
- Clara van den Meer is the only child of van den Meer and his wife. She is a beautiful girl and kept hidden away in her home first by her mother and then by herself. As a child she was kidnapped and kept hostage in a windmill by van Stolk, her father's business associate, who received half of her family's fortune as ransom. Clara believes that it was water-spirits who kidnapped her, and turned her into a changeling, which she believes that she is. After her mother's death, Clara begins to spend her time by the hearth and coins her own names of Ashgirl, Cinderling and Cinderella.
- Henrika Vinckboons van den Meer is Clara’s mother. She kept Clara locked inside their home, to protect her from the dangers of the world. Sadly, she died during a premature childbirth of what would have been Clara's younger sibling, had the infant survived too.
- Cornelius van den Meer is Clara’s father. He is a businessman and involved in the tulip industry. The Fishers later refer to him as Papa Cornelius. He goes into a seemingly catatonic state of depression, barely paying attention to anything but their oncoming poverty and how much his family has changed.
- Luykas Schoonmaker is a local painter "not quite known as the Master of the Doldrecht Altarpiece" and the first to shelter the Fishers.
- Caspar is Master’s apprentice. He is in love with Iris, and she with him, but Margarethe disapproves and tries to steer Iris away from him by hinting that Caspar is homosexual.
- Jack Fisher was Margarethe's deceased husband. He was killed by English villagers, a fate which the rest of the Fisher family escaped. Not much else is known of him, as he is only brought up almost entirely in flashbacks of Iris' memories of the night they fled the country, something she constantly tries to forget.
