In the vein of Wicked, The Woodcutter, and Boy, Snow,
Bird, a luminous reimagining of a classic tale, told from
the perspective of Agnes, Cinderella’s "evil" stepmother. We all know the story of Cinderella. Or do we? As rumors about the cruel upbringing of beautiful
newlywed Princess Cinderella roil the kingdom, her
stepmother, Agnes, who knows all too well about hardship,
privately records the true story. . . . A peasant born into serfdom, Agnes is separated from her
family and forced into servitude as a laundress’s
apprentice when she is only ten years old. Using her wits
and ingenuity, she escapes her tyrannical matron and
makes her way toward a hopeful future. When teenaged
Agnes is seduced by an older man and becomes pregnant,
she is transformed by love for her child. Once again left
penniless, Agnes has no choice but to return to servitude
at the manor she thought she had left behind. Her new
position is nursemaid to Ella, an otherworldly infant.
She struggles to love the child who in time becomes her
stepdaughter and, eventually, the celebrated princess who
embodies everyone’s unattainable fantasies. The story of
their relationship reveals that nothing is what it seems,
that beauty is not always desirable, and that love can
take on many guises. Lyrically told, emotionally evocative, and brilliantly
perceptive, All the Ever Afters explores the hidden
complexities that lie beneath classic tales of good and
evil, all the while showing us that how we confront
adversity reveals a more profound, and ultimately more
important, truth than the ideal of "happily ever after."
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