Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story [Paperback]

Carolyn Turgeon (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 3, 2009

Lil is an old woman who spends her days shelving rare books in a tiny Manhattan bookstore and lonely nights at home in her apartment. But Lil has an intriguing secret. Tucked and bound behind her back are white feathery wings–the only key to who she once was: the fairy godmother responsible for getting Cinderella to the ball to unite with her Prince Charming.

But on that fateful night, something went terribly and beautifully wrong. Lil allowed herself the unthinkable: to feel the emotions of human beings and fall in love with the prince herself, going to the ball in place of Cinderella in her exquisitely gorgeous human guise. For her unforgivable mistake, she was banished to live among humans, far from her fairy sisters and their magical underwater world. But then one day she meets Veronica–a young, fair-skinned, flame-haired East Village beauty with a love of all things vintage and a penchant for falling in love with the wrong men–and suddenly it becomes clear to Lil that she’s been given a chance at redemption. If she can find a soul mate for Veronica, she may right her wrong and return to the fairy world she so deeply longs for. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This retelling of Cinderella follows the oft ignored character of the fairy godmother, who may or may not be a mentally ill New Yorker. Lil, as this godmother is known, is now living in New York City, broke and employed at a bookstore, years after being exiled from the kingdom of fairies for betraying her charge. Condemned to live as an old woman, her wings bound to her back as penance, Lil is overcome by longing for what she has lost, slipping in her recollections of her idyllic past into the harsh present. When she meets Veronica, a young woman perpetually dogged with man problems, Lil sees an opportunity to redeem herself. But as the narrative progresses, cracks in Lil's story (and psyche) emerge. Needless to say, readers expecting magical carriages and glass slippers will be surprised by the novel's morose tone, and though the surprise conclusion doesn't quite work, Turgeon's takes on nostalgia and regret are surprisingly clear-eyed given her narrator's unbalance. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

In a decidedly different take on Cinderella, Turgeon limns the travails of Lil, the fairy godmother chosen to ensure that, because she is fated to marry the prince, Cinderella gets to the ball. Lil, however, lets herself feel human emotions, falls in love with the prince, and goes to the ball in Cinderella’s place. The fairy elders banish her to the human world, where she lives, wings furled and bound behind her back, as an old woman working in a tiny Manhattan rare-book store. This take on the tale unfolds in alternating first-person accounts, one of Lil in the past, the other of Lil in the present, yearning to rejoin her sister and friends in the fairy world and finding a way to redeem herself when she meets Veronica, a vibrant young woman, and realizes that by finding a soul mate for Veronica, she could make up for that night so long ago. Lil is complex and appealing, and vivid imagery and lyrical writing give shape to a charmer with a very satisfying, enigmatic ending. --Sally Estes

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 Original edition (March 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307407993
• ISBN-13: 978-0307407993
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carolyn Turgeon is the author of five novels: Rain Village; Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story; Mermaid, which is currently being developed for film by Sony Pictures; The Next Full Moon, her first children's book; and the upcoming The Fairest of Them All, which is the story of Rapunzel growing up to be Snow White's stepmother. Carolyn lives between Pennsylvania and New York, and is a faculty member of the University of Alaska at Anchorage's Low-Residency MFA program. Visit her online at carolynturgeon.com and read her mermaid blog at iamamermaid.com/.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, but disappointing. September 7, 2009

By J. Arena TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The cover of this book and suggestion of a Cinderella story will lure you in to a false expectation of a romantic fantasy with Disneyesque qualities. No spoilers here, but if that is what you are looking for, you'd do well to look elsewhere. Perhaps it's my own fault for not researching further into what I was reading, but I was immediately taken by the quality of this author's writing style. I kept turning every page, and my own false hopes for a happy ending were dashed.

However, for what it is, Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story is a novel well-worth your time and interest. Brava, Carolyn Turgeon!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon July 23, 2009

By Heidi Anne Heiner VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Unlike many of the reinvented fairy tale novels published recently, Turgeon's Godmother isn't aimed at young adult readers, but adult readers, with its edgier and more enigmatic handling of the content. It reminded me more of Gregory Maguire's work in the genre than any other author's although Donna Jo Napoli and several short story authors have lots of sharp corners in their stories, too. I found myself thinking about Napoli's masterpiece "The Magic Circle" every so often while reading this novel since both offer similar themes of older women seeking redemption from past mistakes.

Godmother is the story of Cinderella's godmother, banished to the mortal world after her bad handling of Cinderella and the prince. This godmother, Lil, barely resembles the usual fairy godmother imagery. She is not a benevolent, rather flighty, bringer of good fortune. Well, at times, yes, she is, but not in the expected ways. Lil is bereft from her losses and lonely although blessed with friends and people who care about her in the mortal world. Now that she is banished, stuck living in New York City and working in a small rare bookstore, she desperately wants to return home. She is desperately trying to re-earn her wings to borrow the cliché of angels. She finds a new woman, Vivian, she hopes to help and thus redeem herself. The story unfolds, mixed with flashbacks to 300 years earlier when she first tried to help Cinderella win her prince.

There are a few surprises and twists and an ending that will most likely either satisfy or frustrate the reader. This book explores the psychological side of the character while still telling an interesting story. It's a fairly easy read, not an overly heavy or long one--it's considerably shorter than anything by the above mentioned Maguire, for one thing. I'm still digesting it, not adoring it, but enjoying it all the same, more intrigued than anything.

So yes, I recommend it. I admit the book sat on my stack of "to be read" books (always an overwhelming stack) for a while since the reviews had been mixed and I was reluctant. Consequently, I ended up liking the book much more than I expected to. If the subject and themes interest you, try it and don't put it down until the end which will hopefully make it all worthwhile for you.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not at all what I expected... I can't figure out what was true July 16, 2009

By Mrs. Baumann VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Plot Summary: The fairy Lil failed in her duty to get Cinderella to the ball, so the elders banished her to earth in the body of an old woman. The only trace of Lil's former glory is a pair of snow-white wings that she straps down with an Ace bandage. She lives in a tiny, broken down apartment in NYC, and works at a used bookstore owned by an absent-minded wealthy guy. When a vibrant young hair stylist comes in to sell some books, Lil sees a cosmic opportunity to make things right, and play matchmaker between Veronica and her boss, George. Lil is convinced that if this couple finds love at the charity ball, then she'll be allowed to return to her fairy home.

The story flowed beautifully for the first half of the book, but the second half twisted in upon itself several times, and I'm no longer sure what it was about. I thought this would be a straightforward fantasy sweetened with romance, but now I wonder if the entire story was nothing more than dementia punching holes in the soft brain of an old, tormented woman.

This is one of those books that leaves the interpretation up to the reader, and for some reason I'm leaning toward the darker path. Somehow this fantasy persuaded me to turn my back on the magic, which is the last thing I want to do. Was Lil a fallen fairy, or a mortal woman trapped by mental illness? Since this story is told in a first person narrative, I have no one's word but Lil's. It's like listening to my three-year-old insist that she didn't color on the bathroom door, but the evidence and logic are overwhelming (I still need to clean that door, *sigh*).

Lil's fall from grace happened on the night when Cinderella was supposed to meet her Prince at the ball, some 300 years in the past. The flashbacks become progressively more disturbing, until it reaches a conclusion that no little girl wants to contemplate. To balance these bitter memories, Lil latches onto Veronica, whose passionate, creative, larger-than-life personality makes her appealing to anyone who breathes. I didn't really see the match between vibrant Veronica and the lifeless George, and it's a pity that his character wasn't fleshed out more.

This was stranger, darker, and more confusing than I had anticipated, but there were flashes of beauty that almost seemed fay.