Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

LADY TREMAINE by Rachel Hochhauser is an impressive debut, containing a clever retelling of the Cinderella story, this time focusing on its title character, the stepmother. Twice widowed and impoverished, Lady Ethel Tremaine struggles to provide for her two daughters (Matilda and Rosamund) and ungrateful, detached step-daughter (Elin), constantly hoping that a fortuitous marriage will improve their fortunes. With its themes of motherhood (“The love of a mother does away with scales and measurement altogether; It envelops and understands and embraces what is cracked along with what is beautiful.”), social standing, resilience, and feminism, this title would be an interesting and discussion-provoking choice for book groups. LADY TREMAINE received starred review from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. It is both a LibraryReads selection and an IndieNext pick for March.