LADY TREMAINE

Twice widowed and struggling to maintain the decaying manor house she and her daughters are trapped in, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley does everything in her power to obtain an invitation to a royal ball that could change their lives forever.

After the death of her second husband, Ethel finds herself without any money, in charge of a rapidly crumbling house and its staff, and struggling to look after her daughters, Rosamund and Mathilde, and their self-righteous, stick-in-the-mud stepsister, Elin (aka Cinderella). It’s a challenge, to say the least. Ethel clings desperately to the image of a proper and well-to-do lady while doing whatever she can—including hunting in the woods with her peregrine falcon, Lucy—in order to protect her family and make ends meet. When word reaches her of an upcoming royal ball that could lead to a highly coveted engagement to the prince, she becomes determined to help her daughters earn an invitation, only to have Elin be invited instead. As time passes and the engagement unfolds quickly, Ethel comes to realize that Prince Charming and the royal family are not all they’re chalked up to be, and that she must choose between the life she’s sought for years and the well-being of a stepdaughter who’s never loved her. Ethel is so much more than the cartoonishly villainous Wicked Stepmother that fans of Cinderella have come to know over the years. Instead, Hochhauser has created a desperate and prideful woman who would do anything in her power to ensure that her daughters have an easier life than she’s had. Readers will no doubt find themselves rooting for Ethel as she recounts the life she once had, the love she’s lost, and her unwavering devotion to her daughters.

A bold and beautifully written examination of a mother’s love told through the eyes of Cinderella’s “wicked” stepmother.