As your favourite fairy tale ends with “and they all lived happily ever after” did you ever wondered what really happened next? Strap yourself in and prepare to find out.
This book is put together very well and is totally imaginable. Very thought provoking and definitely worth a read

What happens when cinderella does not live happily ever after? Follow this enchanting tale full of fairytales woven together. It will make you smile and remember tales from your childhood but with a very different twist. All I can say is enjoy and smile as you follow the twists and turns of the story.

I love fairytale retellings, and for the most part, I really liked this book. In all of the Disney approved fairytales of my childhood, the stories always ended with ‘Happily Ever After’, but even as a child, I wanted to know what this meant. What was happily ever after? As an adult, that ending annoyed me even more, as it made it feel like the women in the story were ornamental, they were a prize to be won and their lives stopped being relevant as soon as they got the man. Charmed Wife deals with this idea, and the realities a fairytale princess might be left with after the curtains have been drawn. Her life seems to be an endless parade of parties and feasts, with no real substance to give her happiness or strength. Her husband is distant and her children cruel. She is unfulfilled and her life is seemingly pointless beyond portraying the image of a happy princess, wife and mother.

I really liked the social commentary that the author was able to bring about, by discussing the ideas about how women are ‘supposed’ to find their happiness in their families, the importance of social hierarchies and marrying up. About feeling unimportant in our own lives, and questioning whether those who claim to love us, do so because of who we are, or because of who they think we are.

I liked the author’s take on the traditional fairytale characters, and how nobody is who they seem to be. The Prince isn't really charming, the witch isn’t evil, etc… How the labels we give to ourselves and those around us can be used to excuse certain behaviours and stop us from seeing the truth. I also really liked the discussion on mental health, how sometimes it is difficult to tell what is real life and what is our imagination, especially when fantasy has a way of taking the edge off reality.

I did find some of the writing a little weird, and found myself having to go back and reread paragraphs, as the story did jump around a little. I also found the bits with the mice a little odd and I am not sure if they brought anything necessary to the story. But overall, I would definitely recommend this novel, and look forward to what the author brings out next.

Overall the theme of the book got to me. I found it very realistic and heartbreaking over how human nature is capable of destroying its own inhabitant. I think that it is a bit too complex for me as it jumps through different narrators without much warning and I often find myself wondering what is reality in this fictional universe. I found the ending poignant and truly beautiful. The different relationships, the different versions of love were very well explained to the point where it is so clear to see that this fairy tale marriage had no love in the first place. Happily ever after takes a lot of work and cannot be magically fixed. I found all characters to be unlikable and likable at times which made them again, far more realistic and humane than most fairy tale based novels. It is definitely a book that will stay with you for a long time.

What happens after a happy ending?

Cinderella’s married life in the palace seems like an endless loop of idle eating and dancing, her husband never present or invariably distant, her children her only joy she may soon lose.
The tone of the book is an odd, in all the positive ways, combination of fairy tale and a realistic narrative voice of an unhappily married woman, fuelled by her misery and the newfound decisiveness to end it.

It is both sad and refreshing to witness the well-known version of Cinderella reimagined as a miserable woman in her mid-thirties, struggling to make sense of her bleak happily ever after. I applaud the author’s vision and her take on other familiar characters. No one, not the Prince, not the evil stepsisters, not even the Fairy Godmother are what we’re used to.

The occasional cuttings to Cinderella’s mice’s personal lives feel like fun interludes but somewhat unnecessary, nonetheless, overall, the structure of the novel is skilfully accomplished. We begin with a brief overview of the story we already know and then dive right into The Charmed Wife’s narrative, with appropriately timed and placed flashbacks, each told in a fairy tale manner and welcoming some more unexpected yet familiar faces. My personal favourite is the Witch, who, as many others, is not at all what you would expect.

Sometimes, it is hard to tell what is real or not, just as Cinderella struggles to tell reality from her fantasy. Here our world and fairy tale are transposed on one another to show that magic cannot solve everything, true love is not the same as lust or infatuation, and making excuses for others is a futile endeavour that nourishes hate, and “hate traps you as much as love does.”

The novel touches on the subject (which has been bothering me for quite some time) of the Prince having the whole kingdom trying on the glass slipper until finding the girl it would fit, essentially, any girl with the appropriate shoe size. “Would he have even known the difference?” Cinderella ponders. At some point, she begins to acknowledge the power of choice and what true love really feels like, which is far from feeling like “some misplaced piece of luggage” that needed retrieving with a glass slipper acting as a luggage tag.

The novel challenges the outdated conviction that goes in line with the “middle-aged certainties” of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, that marrying rich is every woman’s ultimate goal. Of course, true love does exist. But it is not shallow, it is not just about the looks, interminable gifts, and possessions, but something much deeper that would never take away your dignity. There are many “beautiful beginnings”, but not all make for a beautiful ending.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine meets Once Upon a Time with a darker twist, the novel is tragic, funny, and refreshingly unexpected. You will not be disappointed.