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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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
Review
“A terrific book, sweet, touching and great fun. I loved it.”
—Joanne Harris
“Godmother is earthy, lyrical, sensual and deeply, intelligently romantic. Carolyn Turgeon has a gift for mingling the magical and the mundane. Her earthy, sensual and richly imagined take on the fair folk should appeal to fans of Holly Black.”
—Alisa Kwitney/Sheckley, author of Flirting in Cars and The Better to Hold You
“Godmother is a transcendent little gem of a book.”
—Novelist Cherie Priest for Subterranean Magazine
"Turgeon's work is haunting and hypnotic, blending the line of reality and magic into a gorgeous flowing narrative. Set against a modern day backdrop, this tale reexamines an all-too familiar story and breathes new life into it."
—Anton Strout, author of Dead to Me
“With a fairy's touch, Carolyn Turgeon expands the familiar Cinderella story into something deeper, richer and darker than we've ever been allowed. A stunning reminder that enchantment -- both its pleasures and dangers -- is as human as we are.”
—Daphne Gottlieb, author of Kissing Dead Girls
"Godmother is a true exploration of the dark vitality of city life and the hidden horrors of the fantastic."
—Nick Mamatas, author of Under My Roof
“Turgeon must have a magic wand for a pen–these haunting, dazzling pages turn themselves.”
—Jennifer Belle, author of High Maintenance and Little Stalker
About the Author
CAROLYN TURGEON is the author of severl works of fiction, including Rain Village, Mermaid, and The Fairest of Them All. Visit her website and blog at carolynturgeon.com.
