It seems that earthbound George must find a date for an upcoming society ball, and Lil has just met the enchanting Veronica, a most charming girl with bright red hair and a penchant for all things retro. Religiously hiding her real identity, Lil is weary of the demands of human life, dreaming of someday returning to her fairy home. In Lil’s recreation, the fairy godmother fails to deliver an unhappy Cinderella to the ball, filled herself with love for the prince who waits impatiently for his heart’s desire.Ĭonfined to the human world for centuries, Lil, Cinderella’s disgraced fairy godmother, bears the pain of her failure, her wings carefully concealed each morning as she reports to work at the bookstore owned by the handsome young George. Shelving misplaced books each morning in a Manhattan bookstore, Lil, an aging, once-beautiful lady with a secret, reveals Cinderella’s true fate, an encounter that hews not at all to popular beliefs, those silly Disney figures with rounded, childish bodies and happy mien. What if Cinderella doesn’t make it to the ball and her fairy godmother goes instead, secretly yearning to be with the prince?

Turning the Cinderella story on its head, Turgeon posits quite another encounter between Cinderella and her fairy godmother.

Book review: Carolyn Turgeon's *Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story*Ĭlick here to read reviewer Michael Leonard's take on Godmother, or here to read Swapna Krishna's review.

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