Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Just Ella
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
September 1999
Simon & Schuster

I was cold.  I was lonely.  I was engaged to be married in two short months to the most handsome man I'd ever seen - the prince of the land, the heir to the throne.  But I had never felt so alone in all my life, not even shivering in rags in my garret the day they came to say my father was dead.  This was happiness?

Most people know the story of Cinderella, but we seldom get past "and they lived happily ever after."  Well what if she didn't live happily ever after?  What if promising to marry a prince was only the beginning of her problems?  For Ella, it is.  She may be living comfortably in the palace, waiting to marry the local stud muffin, but her days are filled with endless lessons on manners and propriety, and absurd restrictions.  Is this what she wanted?  Is Ella doomed to live happily never after?

I love that this story continues a tale that we almost never hear more about.  The premise of the book was definitely interesting as the love at first sight story that we all know has always seemed a bit silly to me.  The awkwardness of that encounter can definitely be felt throughout this book as Ella and the Prince rarely have anything to say to one another except "Boy, you are SMOKIN' hot!"  But the book also got a little ridiculous at times with the insane restrictions placed upon Ella and the other ladies at court.  I'm no historian (and yes, I know we're in fairy tale land here) but the world is definitely more strict than is traditional.

*SPOILER*  The book also gets a little darker at the end, when Ella faces the possibility of being raped and murdered.  But the number one thing that bothered me happened near the end.  Ella has been imprisoned in a cell until she can come to her senses about actually going through with the wedding to the prince.  Happily, her servant friend brings her a shovel, with which she is able to dig her way to freedom through the crap hole in her cell.  That's all fine and plausible, but what did she do with the dirt?!  Surely someone would have noticed all the dirt piling up in the cell, so she can't have put it there.  Did she hide it under the bed?  Fill her empty food dishes with it?  I don't know!  Perhaps Ella really did have a fairy godmother who magicked it all away.  In any case, this question of what happened to the dirt bothered me so much I was nearly incapable of enjoying the rest of the story.  *SPOILER END*

If you're a fairy tale fanatic like me then this book (which only takes a few hours to read) is definitely worth your time.  Or, try these other fairy tale retellings!