Lady Tremaine

by Rachel Hochhauser ★★★★★

When I saw the descriptions of Lady Tremaine, in which the tale of Cinderella is retold through the eyes of the wicked stepmother, I naturally thought of Gregory Maguire's Wicked. Thirty years ago—long before the musical or the movies—that book captured imaginations with a similar ploy. Like Wicked, Lady Tremaine tells a far broader tale than what is depicted in the beloved fairy tales or films, and it also casts a sympathetic glow upon a character we had only known as a villain.

Lady Etheldreda Tremaine Bramley is a fiercely determined single mother, twice widowed and left with a crumbling manor and only a whisper of titled standing. She's not above secretly traipsing through the woods to hunt with her falcon, Lucy, but also takes pains to keep up appearances of the privileged class and her perceived societal standing. Like most mothers, she is driven by a burning desire to see safety and happiness for her two daughters. In the times in which she lives, that means finding a suitable spousal match for them, despite their lack of dowry and their limited societal station.

Her desire is far from burning when it comes to the happiness of her stepdaughter, Elin, however. Despite Ethel's best efforts, Elin has never embraced her as a mother, choosing instead to bury her nose in a book of axioms and avoid all manner of responsibility. While the household is struggling, Elin is living in her own, isolated world, leaving Ethel frustrated and at a loss as to what to do with the girl.

Opportunity for societal elevation presents itself with the famed ball, of course, in which the kingdom's prince seeks to meet an eligible bachelorette. Where that event is central to the 1950 Disney film (along with an inordinate amount of time devoted to literal cat-and-mouse hijinks), the ball consumes far less of the plot in Lady Tremaine. Instead, we spend more time learning of Ethel's childhood, her girlhood rivalry over her first love, and her pathway to a second marriage and inheriting an unenthused stepdaughter. We also come to explore the aftermath of the ball in far more detail than in any other rendering of this story, and it is in those pages in which Lady Tremaine truly starts to shine. The plot thickens, the intrigue builds, and the story takes some captivating turns.

It's an artfully told tale, recasting a story you think you know as a historical drama and imbuing it with clever dialogue, an inventive plot, and a fiercely determined main character. It had me chuckling frequently at the banter; the characters conduct themselves with the propriety of the times, but underneath the surface lies a delicious layer of a razor-sharp wit. I grew gradually more attached to all of the characters, none more than Ethel, the central planet around which the rest of the plot orbits. It was an unexpectedly great journey that had me anxiously awaiting opportunities to continue the story, sticking with me enough that it even inspired me to rewatch the original Cinderella (a word of caution: don't! It is mostly horrible for anyone older than 8...)

When I started Lady Tremaine, I had no expectations that this would be a book that would land near the top of my favorites, much less at the top. There's a lot of year left to go, but as we approach the midpoint, this inventive expansion of a fairy tale we know had just the right amount of everything to be my favorite book of the first half of 2026. Highly recommended.

---

Quick Facts

• Title: Lady Tremaine

• Author: Rachel Hochhauser

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

• Release Date: March 3, 2026

• Format: Audiobook

• ISBN-13: 978-1250396358

• Pages: 341