Isabelle is not pretty. She knows she’s not. Ella is the beautiful one. Ella is the one with several marriage proposals, even after she was Forced Into Servitude. Ella is the girl from the ball, the one the prince fell madly in love with. Ella is the princess.
Isabelle is just her ugly stepsister.
No matter how hard Isabelle tries, she can’t win. She doesn’t fit the mold for the ideal girl of her time, and no one will accept her true self. But when a chance arises, Isabelle will bravely change her destiny and prove that it takes more than a name—and some missing toes—to shatter a girl.
Stepsister is a sequel to the Grimm Brother’s version of Cinderella where the ugly—and desperate—stepsisters attempt to fool the prince by cutting off parts of their feet to fit into the slipper. It deconstructs their antagonistic roles toward the titular character through flashbacks and personal thoughts of Isabelle, the younger stepsister, from whose point of view the story is told through. Written by Jennifer Donnelly, the book was an instant bestseller that won several awards and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
The book involves the following tropes:
- Gold Digger: Reconstructed. In this era, women can only be secure in adulthood if they marry. Isabelle and Octavia were dismissed as children by two older men, Isabelle for being dirty and Tavi for being sarcastic. The men said that while Ella would make a splendid wife one day, Isabelle and her sisters should become nuns or governesses or "whatever ugly girls do". The girls’ mother even says so herself that Isabelle and Tavi’s future happiness is uncertain unless they marry. Which makes it all the worse when neither of them get any marriage proposals, while Ella had several.
- I Am Not Pretty: Isabelle and her sister Octavia are the infamous ugly stepsisters from Cinderella. It is the root of their hatred towards Ella, who was sweet and gentle, and effortlessly beautiful even in rags, the ideal woman for the era. Even in silk gowns and pretty fans, Isabelle and Octavia could not outshine Ella, who received five marriage proposals even after she was made a servant, while her stepmother could not even convince the awkward schoolmaster’s son to marry one of her own daughters.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Isabelle has been dismissed and rejected for her plain looks and boyish personality ever since she was little, while Ella instantly won favor with everyone she met for her beauty and sweet manners. In a world where only pretty girls are valued and cherished by society, Isabelle wishes she was pretty so that she, too, could be as valued as Ella.
- Unwillingly Girly Tomboy: Isabelle is a Tomboy at heart, secretly harboring dreams of battle in war and adventure in foreign lands. But in her time, such things are forbidden for women. Her mother spent Isabelle’s adolescence dressing her in Impractically Fancy Outfits and dragging her to society functions, trying to make her into a Proper Lady to get her a rich husband, or at least a husband.
- Downplayed with Tavi. She’s not a tomboy per se, but she is interested in science and mathematics. But like Isabelle’s dreams of battle glory, such pursuits are off-limits for girls who want a future. Tavi, too, was forced to hide her interests to seem more appealing to prospective husbands.
