Talking about Glass Slippers, Prince Charmings and your favorite Cinderellas...

[EloisaJames]

Hi everybody!

My new column is up about Cinderellas (on the Review page)... So what's your favorite Cinderella novel?

And what do you think is the real heart of a Cinderella rewrite?

Eloisa

[Melanie_Murray]

You can find Eloisa's latest amazing article right here.

[becke_davis]

Perfect timing. My daugher and I went to see Enchanted tonight, and loved it. My daugher is a feminist who loves dolls and Disney, and even though she wrote a term paper on the sexism in Disney movies, she is still an avid fan of Belle and Ariel -- and, oh yeah, she works for Disney. She is NOT a fan of romance, chick lit or most of the books I like, although she did love the Twilight trilogy. So we have very different takes on the whole Cinderella theme. I think it's funny that while my daughter was always fascinated by fairy tales, they left me cold. I think we are both fascinated by all the ways "happy ever after" can play out, but we each find it in stories that suit our personal styles.

As to my favorite modern fairy tale, I'd have to vote for Jennifer Crusie's rare-as-pink-diamonds Cinderella tale, which I recently read and talked about elsewhere on this site. If you can find it, I highly recommend it.

And, thanks so much, Eloisa - just when I was reducing my to-be-read pile while I'm on vacation, based on your column I'm going to have to add several more books to the stack. I've only read Christina Dodd's contemporary books -- you're bound and determined to get more converts to historicals, aren't you? Forcing me to read more books? Cruel and unusual punishment, but I guess I can take it.

[Michellynn]

Wonderful article as always Eloisa! I always find a few new books to add to my TBB list whenever I read your articles. The only book in your article that I have actually read was An Offer from a Gentlemen. So I will have to look in to the others.

As for Cinderella books in general, ironically I don't think I have actually come across that many that I can think of off the top of my head. Makes me wonder what little rock I've been hiding under to have missed so many of them. LOL

BUT, I can think of several that would sort of fall in to the category of a Cinderfella romance (am I the only one that remembers that Jerry Lewis movie???). How about Kleypas's, Dreaming of You....or Suddenly You. Both are about men that came from nothing and more or less transformed themselves in to a "Prince" of sorts (one a Prince of the Gambling World, the other the Prince of the Publishing World). Actually, now that I think of it...Kleypas does the semi-Cinderfella angle quite well in a lot of her books (just thought of Secrets of a Summer Night, and Again the Magic).

[TeresaMedeiros]

Another fabulous column, Eloisa! I love fractured fairy tales myself. I had just finished writing CHARMING THE PRINCE when the movie EVER AFTER came out and I adored it.

I remember reading THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE when I was a child and loving it, too. I think those primal fairy tale themes still resonate in each of us as readers, which makes them a powerful tool for delivering our stories.

[EloisaJames]

Dear Michellyn,

Cinderfella -- I love it! I'm actually shaping up to do a column at some point on heros who fall vaguely into that category (Mary Jo Putney's The Rake, for example -- drunk sobers up).

And Becke, I think there's a wide space in which we can all be feminists (demanding equal pay) and still love the structural myths behind fairy tales, and Disney -- I love your daughter's complexity!

And as for making you all read more books...*g*. For each of these columns B&N is kind enough to send me a huge box of whatever type of romance I'm writing about. So I really mean it when I say the books I mention are great and worth reading -- because there's a load of Cinderella romances I didn't include in the column.

Eloisa

[cindyw]

Great article, Eloisa. I love fairy tales, some of my favorite "Cinderella" romances are "Forever After" by Jill Gregory and "To Love a Thief" by Julie Anne Long. I love those stories where the heroine has so little to start with, and the hero plays the role of the Fairy Godmother.

[lovelyduchess]

Elosia as always great article and one I can really sink my teeth into..Growing up the Disney Classic Cinderella was my favorite movie, even as a teenager and had trouble w/ life in general I would watch it when I wanted to feel all of my emotions come alive just for the heck of it. I would watch it and get so mad at the evil stepmother and sisters, laugh at Cinderella's companions who helped her, get excited at just how Cinderella looked at life and tried to live each day to it's fullest and cry both tears of sorrow and joy. Sorrow for when she has to leave the ball and the fun (not just Prince Charming) behind and Joy for the happy ending (I am a sucker for a happy ending). It was just a movie that touched my life. As for books I would have to say a lot of romance books could be used as a Cinderella story. For whatever reason the Hero/Heroine finds their true love, something tears them apart and then they get back together. In my opinion (and mine alone) I don't think you have to be down and out to be a Cinderella. You may not be treated like trash, you could just be having a bad year, and things start to turn around (hence the glass slipper) and then you meet the love of your life (Prince Charming) and you go through hardships only to turn around (oneday) and you are good again (but who knows for how long). Life is hard for everyone and I, personally, thank whatever fairy godmother sent my husband (my Prince Charming) to me. An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn is one book that stands out to me as Cinderella-ish. And for your male Cinderfella story coming up toot your own horn w/ The Taming of the Duke. Classic Cinderfella-ish.

oh I also remember the movie Cinderfella. My husband loves the old black and whites and we watch them all the time. Jerry Lewis was just funny in that movie

Message Edited by lovelyduchess on 12-18-2007 01:09 PM

[Janga]

The column is terrific, Eloisa, and you talked about many of my favorite Cinderella stories. I think JQ's Minx also qualifies as a Cinderella tale, and like a lot of the best Cinderella romances, it blends themes--guardian/ ward with Cinderella, in this case. I also love Eileen Goudge's Wish Come True, her third Carson Springs novel, that is part mystery, part women's fiction, and part Cinderella romance, and Katie Fforde's The Rose Revisited with three Cinderella-like, housecleaning heroines. The most recent Cinderella tale I read was Gaelen Foley's Prince Charming (I have been on a Foley glom), and it mixes a bit of Robin Hood with Cinderella. Then there is your own Pleasure for Pleasure--definitly some Cinderella elements in my favorite EJ novel.

One of my favorite Cinderella "tales" is not a novel (and definitely not romantic) but rather the lyrics to an old Suzy Boggus song "Hey, Cinderella, in which the narrator asks:

"Yeah, our dolls gather dust in the corner of the attic,
And bicycles rust in the rain.
Still we walk in that fabled shadow;
Sometimes we call her name.

Hey hey, Cinderella, what's the story all about?
I got a funny feeling we missed a page or two somehow.
Ohh-ohhhh, Cinderella, maybe you could help us out.
Does the shoe fit you now?


Also, Jenny Crusie has a great essay, which can be found on her website, that addresses the connection between fairy tales and feminism: "This Is Not Your Mother's Cinderella: The Romance Novel as Feminist Fairy Tale."

[Julia_Quinn]

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Janga wrote:
The column is terrific, Eloisa, and you talked about many of my favorite Cinderella stories. I think JQ's Minx also qualifies as a Cinderella tale, and like a lot of the best Cinderella romances, it blends themes--guardian/ ward with Cinderella, in this case."

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How interesting! I never thought of Minx as a Cinderella tale, probably because Henry rather liked her life before Dunford came along. But I can see where you are coming from--it does have the transformation angle to it.

JQ

[cindyw]

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Janga wrote:
The column is terrific, Eloisa, and you talked about many of my favorite Cinderella stories. I think JQ's Minx also qualifies as a Cinderella tale, and like a lot of the best Cinderella romances, it blends themes--guardian/ ward with Cinderella, in this case.

---

I'd forgotten the Cinderella angle in Minx. It's my favorite kind of Cinderella story. I love the ones where the hero plays a huge role in the transformation. Minx was my first Julia Quinn book, after that I read every single JQ book.

[xx-eyor16]

Eloisa, I don't know how you come up with such interesting subjects. I've really enjoyed each of your columns so far and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[Calila]

I can only think of one cinderella type book off the top of my head and that is An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn. It is one of my favorite romances ever.

I also really like the transformation part of Cinderella best.

[Julia_Quinn]

Thanks, guys! An Offer from a Gentleman is the only book I've written where I closely followed an established fable. Strangely, it didn't make the plotting any easier! Well, maybe the plotting was a tiny bit easier, but nothing else was.

It was fun, though, to explore such familiar and comfortable themes. It really does remind you just how attached we are all to fairy tales and forces you to examine why.

JQ

[sara_lindsey]

What a fun article, Eloisa! Fairy tales have always been a passion of mine, and I love getting to talk about them in the context of my other passion - romance novels. I have to add Elaine Fox's If the Slipper Fits to the list of favorite Cinderella romance novels. There are actually so many fairy tale themed romance novels, SurLaLune (the best fairy tale website around) has an entire page devoted to them: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bookstore/romancenovels.html

Julie, I imagine that a fairy tale romance would be even harder to write because the plot IS so established. There's a need to make it stand out, but at the same time stay loyal to the story beloved by so many for so long.

Some of my favorite fairy tale romances are actually YA books: Robin McKinley's Beauty and Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch.

Some great articles on fairy tales can be found through the Journal of Mythic Arts at The Endicott Studio. Terri Windling has fabulous articles on Cinderella (http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forashs.html) and on the subject of women and fairy tales (http://www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galWives/wivestales.html).

Eloisa, you might enjoy her article on the folklore of Italy (http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forital.html) and Raffaella Benvenuto's article on Italian fairies (http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrItalianF.html). Perhaps someday you'll write a romance filled with more than one kind of Italian magic...

[becke_davis]

I saw a funny bumper sticker the other day: The reason you haven't found Prince Charming is that he is living with Mr. Right.

[Melanie_Murray]

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becke_davis wrote:
I saw a funny bumper sticker the other day: The reason you haven't found Prince Charming is that he is living with Mr. Right.

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Ha!

[SaraBennett]

Eloise, thanks for the brilliant article. I'd forgotten how much I love Cinderella stories and how many books I still need to read.

Sara

[EloisaJames]

To both Sara's -- thank you! The article links are wonderful, and Sara, I agree: there are so many Cinderellas to read that (thankfully) we may never catch up.

Eloisa

[becke_davis]

Just finished The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer. More chick lit than straight romance but I enjoyed it. As an extra benefit, lots of motivation and tips for dieters!