We all know the story of the beautiful girl, Cinderella, made to work among the ashes, but what if the fairy tale told only half the story? What fate befell her ugly stepsisters... and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks?

Set against the backdoor of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is Gregory Maguire's stunning retelling of the classic fairy tale - and a novel of beauty, betrayal, illusion and understanding in its own right.