Most people imagine Cinderella as a virtuous princess in a beautiful blue gown, dancing in a grand ballroom until she flees at the stroke of midnight. Lady Tremaine is her foil—so evil that a syndrome related to negative perceptions of stepmothers was named after her. But what if these characters were as complex as real women, and the line between villain and heroine blurred? Rachel Hochhauser explores these questions in her 2026 novel, Lady Tremaine.
The novel reimagines Cinderella’s story from the first-person perspective of her stepmother, Etheldreda Tremaine. After the love of her life dies, Etheldreda remarries to provide financial stability for herself and her two daughters, only to be widowed again in a cruel twist of fate. She is left with a crumbling manor and a distant stepdaughter named Elin, whom readers may recognize as Cinderella.
My favorite part about Lady Tremaine is the complexity of the characters. Many of them are so vivid and nuanced that my opinion of them shifted constantly as I read. This depth made the fairy tale feel unique, while subtle ties to the original also made it feel authentic.
For example, Etheldreda is incredibly hardworking and determined, but she is so intent on maintaining the appearance of wealth that her life becomes both false and exhausting. Elin is virtuous to a fault, quoting obsessively from her deceased mother’s book of virtues instead of bonding with her new family. Rosie and Mathilde, Etheldreda’s biological daughters, are hardworking but increasingly irritated by how Elin doesn’t contribute to the family chores.
Lady Tremaine also explores a darker side of women’s roles in society. From the beginning, the novel alludes to sexual violence, referring to the fate of “a woman alone in the woods.” Etheldreda’s second marriage was purely for financial security and the safety it provides, and she hopes to marry one of her daughters to the prince for the same reasons.
In my Spanish class this year, I wrote an essay about the Spanish Civil War that explored eerily similar themes. Women also had few rights in this society. As a result, marriage was more often for financial security than for love, and sexual violence was (and still is) common. While the stark reality of sexism in Lady Tremaine lacks fairy-tale whimsy, it reveals issues that still exist—ones that marrying Prince Charming won’t solve.
