Final month, once I learn Rachel Hochhauser’s Girl Tremaine — a reimagining of Cinderella from the attitude of her stepmother — I used to be blown away. Within the novel, Girl Tremaine pulled herself out of poverty as a youngster; however now, middle-aged, twice-widowed and again in debt, she wants to search out her two daughters safe marriages earlier than they find yourself on the streets. Additionally on her to-do record? Caring for an ungrateful stepdaughter, searching rabbits for dinner, and conserving their leaky home from fairly actually falling down.
Girl Tremaine flips all the things on its head — the basic Cinderella fairy story, after all, but in addition how we view ladies and moms, by historical past, literature, and nonetheless right now. (Living proof: on Huge Salad, I shared how the guide led me to a significant relationship realization.) Reese Witherspoon simply selected the novel for her guide membership, and I can already envision the film on the large display. Right here, I spoke to Rachel about her dramatic backstory, favourite sentence, and parenting realization…
First issues first: What impressed you to put in writing about Cinderella’s stepmother?
The backstory is extra dramatic than you may suppose. In 2023, my husband couldn’t get off the bed — he had vertigo, he was throwing up on a regular basis, he misplaced 35 kilos. We didn’t know what was occurring. Ultimately we came upon that he wanted emergency mind surgical procedure. The restoration was brutal, and we have been spending a lot time within the hospital. In the future, within the ready room, I used to be scrolling by my telephone and was stopped in my tracks by a cartoon picture of Cinderella’s evil stepmother.
Why did that picture bounce out at you?
On the time, I used to be a caregiver. I used to be caring for my husband, solo-parenting our toddler, and dealing full time. After I checked out Cinderella’s stepmother, I didn’t see a villain. I noticed a mom who was doing what she wanted to do to handle her household.
What a surprising realization.
That seed acquired below my pores and skin. I couldn’t cease serious about it, I felt compelled and known as to the story.
Had been you first launched to the story by watching the Disney film as a child?
Sure, and I used to be enthralled. Even now, once I consider the enduring animation, the set design, the dimensions of it, I really feel very taken with it. The fascinating factor is, I’m making an attempt to re-message the story round Cinderella, nevertheless it’s additionally a love letter to Cinderella.
One pleasant a part of studying the novel was recognizing basic Cinderella scenes — for instance, she comes down sporting an outdated blue costume, and the stepsisters contact it and it rips.
It was actually enjoyable to play with the acquainted plot factors however defy expectations and make U-turns. Then the second half of the guide explodes that world.
Girl Tremaine has two daughters, after all, plus her stepdaughter. In your novel, she finally ends up realizing that she must guardian every of them otherwise. That was a ravishing and profound second.
You go into parenting with numerous expectations — what it’s going to seem like, how your children are going to be. However children come out who they’re, and that’s been an important lesson for me. Parenting is a violation of expectations time and again, on a small and enormous scale, and you’ll’t guardian any two children the identical means.
The novel additionally feels cinematic — you’ll be able to clearly image the grassy fields, the crumbling home, the village market. What background analysis did you do?
The novel’s very a lot in dialog with the western European model of Cinderella, nevertheless it isn’t really set in a particular time interval or place. So, it was a little bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card for me; I wished it to learn like historic fiction however I didn’t should be hyper-specific about what life appeared like in England in 1797. As an alternative, I researched a broader swath of time — I learn the diaries of 18th-century ladies, etiquette books for ladies, fiction written throughout that point… Since Girl Tremaine has a falcon, I learn outdated falconry manuals and took chook workshops. Helen Macdonald’s H Is For Hawk is an beautiful guide.
How did you determine on the duvet?
Ninety-nine % of authors don’t get to decide on their covers, however I did get to supply suggestions and St. Martin’s Press was fantastic about listening. We initially had totally different florals, however I requested, may we ever use one thing from the world of the guide? I despatched over photographs by Clara Peeters, one of many few feminine Dutch Golden Age painters. I didn’t really know you can do that, however St. Martin’s used the flowers from her portray for the duvet! I LOVED that. They’re not simply fairly florals, they’re from a lady who was forward of her time and doing one thing totally different.
You now have two daughters — ages one and 4. Had been you serious about them as you wrote?
Sure. The ending nearly reads like a letter to younger ladies, to my daughters. My favourite sentence is the final sentence: ‘You are the scariest factor within the woods.’
Thanks a lot, Rachel! Girl Tremaine is a power.
P.S. Extra favourite books, and Kate Baer’s motherhood poems make me chortle and cry.
