Stepsister, a novel by Jennifer Donnelly, is a slightly different remake of the original story of Cinderella. It takes you through Cinderella’s evil stepsister, Isabelle’s, life as it gives you another perspective of the original Cinderella story by the Grimm Brothers. Jealousy, anger, and unhappiness have made Isabelle go from a once sweet and curious girl to a hollow, rude, and ugly person. Maman, Isabelle’s mother, finds out the prince of France is looking for the girl who he had danced with at the ball so he can marry her. Isabelle is forced to cut off her toes and force her large foot into the small glass slipper. It almost works, until a small dove lands on her shoulder and sings, “blood on the ground! Blood on the shoe! This false, heartless girl is lying to you!” 

Jennifer Donnelly is an American writer best known for her young adult fiction novels. If you are a fan of adventure stories, you may have heard of a few of her books such as Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book, Fatal Throne, her book series WaterFire Saga and her new book Poisoned. She is also known in the UK for her historical novel, A Northern Light. In 2003 she won Carnegie Medal, making her book become recognized as that year’s outstanding children’s book.

This book not only retells the original story from a different point of view but also shines a light on the struggles that Cinderella’s family was facing behind closed doors. The author has a series of flashbacks throughout the story which helps the reader understand why Isabelle and her twin sister, Octavia, dislike Ella so much. The flashback takes you to a time where they were children and didn’t know the difference between right and wrong before they grew jealous of Ella’s beauty. While reading this book it took me through an emotional rollercoaster as I didn’t know if I should be mad at Isabella or if I should feel bad, the author made it easy to read and follow along as you’re transported into a world of a sixteen-year-old who is trying to find her place in the world.