Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly
What happens after Cinderella slips her dainty foot into the glass slipper and is whisked away by the prince? What will become of the step mother and her two daughters? Donnelly begins this fractured fairy tale with the scene in which each stepsister cuts off a part of her foot in an attempt to fit into the crystal shoe. Each fails and is left with a maimed foot, a heart full of resentment, and no prospects. What will become of them? This retelling contemplates the future. Who or what influences one’s fortune? Is it the Fates, three women who spend their days determining the destiny for every person? Writing with magical inks, they create individual life maps, which they believe are unalterable. Chance questions this supposition and wagers that it is Chance not Fate which will decide the course of a stepsister’s life. Which will prevail: Fate or Chance? There is Magic in this sad, hard world. A magic stronger than fate, stronger than chance. And it is seen in the unlikeliest of places. |
The thing you are fighting against, always, is yourself.