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Kim
Rating:
Review
This book was my first introduction to Mr. Maguire, and I liked it. A lot. We all know the story of Cinderella, but we don’t really know much about her ugly stepsisters, and with this book, I read a different side to the classic story. Set in Holland during the 1600s, Iris is the stepsister mentioned in the title, and like other books by this author that tell classic stories from another characters’ point of view (Wicked, Lost, Mirror, Mirror ), she is cast in a much more sympathetic light this time around. We also meet her sister, Ruth, who is not as adept as Iris in their surroundings, their scheming mother, Margarethe and Cinderella herself, Miss Clara van den Meer, who may be a changeling or merely suffering from a traumatizing event in her early childhood. Confessions… is a fun novel, and was the first to make me slow down and enjoy what I was reading.
Best Line:
“You can endure any sort of prison if you can apprehend a window in the dark”
Suzanne
Rating:
Review
Did you ever stop to think that Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters never wanted to be part of a stepfamily either? And that maybe the mean stepmother had reasons for being so scheming and conniving? Maybe Cinderella contributed a little bit to her own situation? Telling the Cinderella story from the ugly stepsister’s point of view, and setting it in 1600’s Holland during the tulip market bust, is the premise of Maguire’s second novel. It’s not a wild ride like his first novel, Wicked, but the story slowly drew me into its web and I enjoyed it. Lots of situations are turned inside out from the original tale, like instead of a good fairy godmother there’s a bad imp in the attic. Iris and Ruth, the two stepsisters, are pawns in their mother’s schemes for security, as ruin always seems to lurk around the corner. The book reminded me that they’re still just adolescents, as is Clara, the Cinderella character whose exquisite beauty proves as much a curse to her as it is an asset. It’s not a light-hearted story, but an entertaining read with some darker twists.
Best Line:
“Could a beauty like Clara nonetheless be one of God’s mistakes? (page 253)”.
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