Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story

 

 Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story  by Carolyn Turgeon

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (March 3, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0307407993

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.

I have to say that the, short 10 page, first chapter of this book couldn't have captured me any more than this one did!

Being an old female I could relate!

Well.. except for the wings!

I have to give you a paragraph that made me wonder why I wasn't the one to write this!

It's hot breath steamed up the windows, and my face stared back at me from the glass. The wrinkled, hanging skin, the dull hair that spiraled out like wires, the sunken dark eyes.  I hated catching myself this way, by surprise.  "This is not who I am," I thought.  Sometimes, I ached so badly for my former beauty that I wanted to pull off my skin like an old robe.

Wow, I thought... am I a fairy godmother too????

According to the photo of the author, Carolyn Turgeon, she is not that old, so I am shocked at how well she seems to know things that go through an old woman's mind!  Maybe she is one of the few that really listened to their grandmother when she talked.  Whatever it was... she really hit the nail on the head in this book.

Even with  my current lack of concentration I found it hard to set this book down. Which is remarkable.   Heck, I  have found that I am not a lover of "re-told" fairy tales and certainly not thrilled with books that bring things "up to date".. I read to escape !  I don't want to read about things I can see any time I want to...  knowing all of this, you'd think this book would not be for me.  

The whole time I was reading this book I found myself wondering how she got inside of an old woman to know the many feelings one has when one is old.  She did a remarkable job writing this book.

It would be a lie if I said I didn't wish the ending was something different from what it was.. but it all made sense for that particular ending.  I guess I wish it had stayed more of a fairy tale at the end. 

This was a really exceptional book.  One I didn't expect.  It guess on many levels it just hit home with me.  I am guessing this book would be more to the liking of females but men could learn a few things by reading it!

(FYI) This is a small, light book... the right size for a trip on a train or plane.

A number of times throughout the book the "Cottingley Fairies" were mentioned.  I don't know if you  know about them... it was a true story, and even Conan Doyle got involved in it.  It seems some children in England photographed themselves with fairies and all the "specialists" couldn't prove that the photo's weren't authentic. 

A movie was made about it. It's called Fairytale: A True Story   if you've never seen it you should.  It's a pretty neat movie.

Thus concludes the third book for Once Upon a Time. (Quest the First)