Will I love Ash?

This book, a retelling of “Cinderella,” is widely considered to be a foundational queer retelling, and I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment.

It was the first queer retelling I ever read and continues to be a favorite. It inspired me to write my own queer retellings and is a fine example of a novel that didn’t need sweeping battles and world-ending threats to be compelling.

I found Ash’s journey through grief and her path to love to be strong in their own ways. Quietly powerful stories like Ash are what I most enjoy, though they are a rarity, especially in… show more.

This queer retelling of Cinderella is deep, moving, and engrossing. It features a young woman, Ash, dreaming of a better life—dreaming that fairies will rescue her from the terrible life she lives under the control of her stepmother. But when she meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her desires slowly begin to change. This book has elegant, swirling prose, and tells a beautiful love story woven through with sadness, solitude, and longing.