Glass Slippers by Leah Cypress

Glass Slippers reimagines the Cinderella story through the eyes of a third stepsister who is trying to sort truth from lies.

Glass Slippers by Leah Cypress (Sisters Ever After Series #2). Delacorte, 2022, 254 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 8-2

“Happily Ever After” isn’t the whole story

Cinderella married her prince, but all’s not well in the kingdom. To begin with, her two little boys are spoiled brats. Her fabled charm and kindness are skin-deep, and it’s only the magical glass slippers that ensure her hold on her prince (now king) and kingdom. Or that’s how it appears to Tirza, the third stepsister. Tirza was only five years old when her mother died and her two older sisters were exiled from the kingdom. Six years later, Queen Ella has taken her in and treats her as family: an example of the Queen’s legendary kindness, and thoroughly undeserved in the opinion of almost everyone else.

Tirza herself is often conflicted. Ella seems nice, but lets the mask slip sometimes. Why isn’t Tirza allowed to see her real sisters? And why, after she steals a chance to try on the glass slippers, is she accused of stealing them when they disappear? The queen insists the slippers are powerful, and dangerous, and not to be trifled with. But she could be lying to retain her own power. Couldn’t she?

Who do you trust?

I dislike reimagined fairy tales that twist the villain into the hero (looking at you, Wicked and Malificent)—see Isaiah 5:20. At the risk of giving too much away, this is not one of those, but Tirza will have to learn that for herself, the hard way. She tells her own story in a breezy style that can turn disturbingly grim at times. The original Cinderella story has its disturbing elements, such as the stepmother whacking off pieces of her daughters’ feet to force-fit them into the glass slipper. This treatment retains the original dimensions of the story while adding a fourth sister through whom we view the other three.

Some of those characters could have been a little more filled out, but that would have made the story longer, and it seems about right at 251 pages. As in the author’s take on Sleeping Beauty (see our review of Thornwood), the additional character is an avenue for exploring personality conflicts and temptations. Tirza’s problem is trust: Can she judge character for herself? Is blood thicker than water? Who is reliable? These are questions every child will have to answer, and Glass Slippers could be one way to think about them.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 4

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: Other fairytale reboots: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, Entwined, The Castle behind Thorns, Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel, and The Cottage in the Woods.
• Reflection: See Hayley’s retrospective of Robin McKinley.
• Resource: Our Summer Fun Fairy Tale Booklist!

Resource: See our Summer Fun Fairy Tale booklist!We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.