Lady Tremaine

Twice-widowed, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor. Fierce and determined, Ethel clings to the respectability her deceased husband's title affords her, hoping it will secure her daughters' future through marriage.

When a royal ball offers the chance to change everything, Ethel risks her pride in pursuit of an invitation for all three of her daughters-only to see her hopes fulfilled by the wrong one. As an engagement to the future king unfolds, Ethel discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she craves and the wellbeing of the stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn.

As if Bridgerton met Circe, and exhilarating to its core, Lady Tremaine reimagines the myth of the evil stepmother at the heart of the world's most famous fairy tale. It is a battle cry for a mother's love for her daughters, and a celebration of women everywhere who make their own fortunes.

From the publisher

St. Martin's Press | 352 pages | Mar 3, 2026 | ISBN:9781250396341 | Women's Fiction

"Readers will no doubt find themselves rooting for Ethel as she recounts the life she once had, the love she's lost, and her unwavering devotion to her daughters. A bold and beautifully written examination of a mother's love told through the eyes of Cinderella's "wicked" stepmother." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A stunning reimagining that turns this classic tale upside down and tips it into a modern state of mind...Hochhauser's writing is beautiful and full of imagery that makes it easy to get lost in the story, and it takes a minute to recover after finishing the last page. Once you get past the lovely feeling of surprise, you'll want to cheer for an empowering happily ever after that seems much preferable to that of the original fairy tale." -BookPage

"This Cinderella reframing paints the stepmother in an entirely new light, building a rich backstory with the man she loved, the girl she almost lost him to, and the daughters she would do anything for. Hochhauser's debut features a fiercely determined heroine, themes of resilience and motherhood, and vivid descriptions that keep the grim in the fairy tale." -Booklist

"Splendid...a stirring exploration of maternal instinct and female strength. It's a winner." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Feminist, fierce, and wildly fresh: Lady Tremaine is my kind of fairy tale. As we resurrect and re-examine the historical women we've maligned, Hochhauser insists we include the wicked stepmothers. Hochhauser's prose is poetic, her story hypnotic, and her characters will live in my head and heart forever. Lady Tremaine is destined to be one of the biggest books of the year." -Glennon Doyle, #1 bestselling author of Untamed

"In breathtakingly beautiful prose, Hochhauser unpicks this old fairytale and weaves it into a feminist war cry. Visceral, powerful and stunningly told, Lady Tremaine soars." -Emilia Hart, New York Times bestselling author of Weyward

"Lady Tremaine left me in awe. Breathing new life into a timeless fairy tale, this is the story of a complex, resilient mother who demonstrates that love does not always come naturally: it is often built on difficult choices. A must-read for anyone who believes in the power of second chances, the nuances of motherhood, and the ways in which strength evolves through adversity. Hochhauser's storytelling is a poignant reminder that even fairy tale villains have a story worth telling. My favorite read of the year so far!" -Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary

"Cinderella gets the Maleficent treatment in the darkly sumptuous and deeply addictive Lady Tremaine, which reimagines the classic fairy tale from the eyes of its villain: Ethelreda, the wicked stepmother. She isn't wicked so much as deeply weighed down-by a crumbling manor house, two daughters in need of secure futures, and a stepdaughter reimagined not as a put-upon heroine but a passive-aggressive prig. A royal ball offers the chance of a lifetime, but a sinister plot underlies both the ball and the prince's hunt for a wife, and Ethelreda finds herself fighting tooth and nail to save her family from ruin. She's a heroine to root for with every turn of the page, and Rachel Hochhauser is a major new talent to watch." -Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Briar Club

"Hochhauser's prose is a gift. Lady Tremaine is one of the best novels I've read in a long time-for its sentences, for its grace, and for its originality. I haven't stopped thinking about it. I am envious of any reader picking up this book for the first time." -Olivia Clare Friedman, author of Here Lies

"Masterful and revolutionary, this spellbinding reimagining transforms a familiar villain into a woman of extraordinary depth. With emotional intelligence and lush prose, the novel reveals universal truths about maternal devotion and the invisible battles women fight. Feminist storytelling at its finest." -Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman and Godshot

"Both intimate and epic in scope, Lady Tremaine shatters our preconceptions of a famous fairy tale villain, presenting instead a mesmerizing portrait of a woman who discovers that real enchantment comes from daring to rewrite your own destiny. With spellbinding prose and haunting moral complexity, Hochhauser excavates the heart of a timeless story, revealing the profound humanity that exists in the spaces between good and wicked. A stunning debut." -Kimberly King Parsons, National Book Award finalist and author of We Were the Universe

"Wit, wisdom, poetry on every page. Hochhauser brilliantly takes a classic from a shelf and reads from it in a voice that's both hauntingly familiar and crisp in contemporary understanding. Her reappraisal of the cages we build for ourselves-in marriage and in love-reveals the freedom we possess, if only we'd look up and wait patiently for the hunting hawk's heart to return to our outstretched arm. Amazing work." -Mark Richard, author of The Ice at the Bottom of the World