Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser (Orion Publishing Group | Orion)

Rachel Hochhauser’s Lady Tremaine flips the old Cinderella tale on its head. This time, we get the story from the stepmother’s side, Etheldreda Tremaine, who’s usually painted as the villain. Here, she’s not scheming for the sake of it. She’s a mother, fighting to give her two daughters and her stepdaughter Elin some kind of future, even as their once-grand manor falls to pieces around them and a royal ball dangles the possibility of change.

The heart of the story beats with Ethel’s determination for social stability. When Elin lands an unexpected engagement to the future king, Ethel’s plans start to unravel, dragging out secrets from the shadows of the royal family. It’s not just drama for drama’s sake; Hochhauser digs into the real costs of survival in a world where women’s choices are barely their own.

Ethel herself is complicated. She’s not just the cold stepmother from the fairy tales; she’s someone who’s lost a lot, who clings to pride, who knows her options are shrinking. Her relationship with Elin doesn’t start out warm; there’s friction, misunderstanding, but as the story moves, both women reveal grit and tenderness. Side characters like Ana and Griselda, Ethel’s daughters, get their own moments, and even the peregrine falcon swooping through the manor brings a wild kind of emotion. The manor itself feels alive, sometimes enchanted, sometimes crumbling; it’s a mirror for Ethel’s own struggle and the world she’s trying to hold together.

Themes of power, identity, and the pressure to fit society’s mold run deep here. Hochhauser writes about women boxed in by marriage and expectation, and those ideas feel just as urgent now as they did in fairy tales of old. The push and pull between what Ethel wants and what she owes to her family is real, and the book doesn’t look away from the hard choices she makes.

Hochhauser’s prose moves easily between lush description and sharp conversation. There’s a sense of history in the language, but also plenty of warmth and wit; the story never feels stiff. Most of it unfolds through Ethel’s eyes, and that close perspective draws you into her doubts and hopes. The manor and the woods outside get just enough detail to set the mood, but the pace never drags.

What really makes the novel stand out is the way it asks you to see the so-called “villain” differently, to find empathy where you might not expect it. Sure, a few plot turns are easy to spot coming, but Ethel’s voice and the messy moral choices she faces give the book real weight. This isn’t just another fairy tale retelling; it feels grounded, sincere, and steeped in historical detail. The novel is for all who like stories driven by complex characters and honest questions about what society demands from women, Lady Tremaine delivers both insight and entertainment.

4/5