{"product_id":"confessions-of-an-ugly-stepsister-a-novel","title":"Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIs this new land a place where magics really happen?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eWicked,\u003c\/i\u003e comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats....\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eExtreme beauty is an affliction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, \u003ci\u003eConfessions of an Ugly Stepsister\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eClara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes!\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFar more than a mere fairy-tale, \u003ci\u003eConfessions of an Ugly Stepsister\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"OUATB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47608068833535,"sku":"*R0011793*","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.onceuponatimebooks.com\/products\/confessions-of-an-ugly-stepsister-a-novel","provider":"Once Upon a Time Books AR","version":"1.0","type":"link"}