Cinder House

by Freya Marske

Overview

Sparks fly and lovers dance in this gorgeous, yearning Cinderella retelling from bestselling author Freya Marske—a queer Gothic romance perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and T. Kingfisher.

Ella is a haunting.

Murdered at sixteen, her ghost is furiously trapped in her father's house, invisible to everyone except her stepmother and stepsisters.

Even when she discovers how to untether herself from her prison, there are limits. She cannot be seen or heard by the living people who surround her. Her family must never learn she is able to leave. And at the stroke of every midnight, she finds herself back on the staircase where she died.

Until she forges a wary friendship with a fairy charm-seller, and makes a bargain for three nights of almost-living freedom. Freedom that means she can finally be seen. Danced with. Touched.

You think you know Ella's story: the ball, the magical shoes, the handsome prince.

You're halfway right, and all-the-way wrong.

Rediscover a classic fairy tale in this debut novella from "the queen of romantic fantasy" (Polygon).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250341716
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/07/2025
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Freya Marske is the author of A Power Unbound, A Restless Truth, and A Marvellous Light, which was an international bestseller and won the Romantic Novel Award for Fantasy. She has been nominated for two Hugo Awards, and won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. She lives in Australia.

Editorial Reviews

Gorgeous, whimsical, romantic, and bittersweet, Cinder House both whisks you away and holds you over a flame. I was bespelled.” —Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"One of the best retellings I've read! With immersive prose, memorable characters, and a glittering world, Marske has breathed new and fiercely feminist life into the classic Cinderella story. Ella is a heroine who will haunt you forever."—Heather Walter, author of The Crimson Crown

“Compelling characters, a spellbinding haunting and a powerful yearning that transcends death; Cinder House burns for you.” —Lex Croucher, author of Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

"Absolutely delightful. One of the most unusual fairy-tale retellings I've seen in a hen's age. I enjoyed it enormously!"—T. Kingfisher, New York Times bestselling author

"Tender and heartfelt... an ideal match not just for lovers of fairy tale retellings but for anyone in the mood for an elegantly written, unconventional love story."—Locus

"Cinderella finds her happily ever afterlife in this sharp, smart addition to the fairy-tale canon."—Kirkus (starred review)

"Rekindles the fire of “Cinderella”...As strong, beautiful, and clever as its heroine. Fans of T. Kingfisher will love it."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Freya Marske

"Marske writes what I crave most in romantasy: brilliant craft, fresh voice, characters worth obsessing over, and genuine honest-to-god heat."―Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White and Royal Blue

"There's nothing in fantasy or queer romance that Marske can't do."―Sarah Rees Brennan, author of Long Live Evil

"The perfect blend of charm, yearning and romance."―C.S. Pacat, New York Times bestselling author of Captive Prince, on Swordcrossed

“Freya Marske’s books are something special.”―Sarah MacLean, New York Times bestselling author

"The prose is sublime, the world-building top-notch, and the magic system is fascinating and unique.”―TJ Klune, New York Times bestselling author of The House on the Cerulean Sea, on A Marvellous Light

"Stunning―the writing is lush, the world-building is fascinating, and the romance is searing hot. I am completely obsessed."―Cat Sebastian, author of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, on A Power Unbound

“Delightful and spicy . . . Marske is simply superb at her chosen genres.”―The New York Times on the Last Binding trilogy

From the Publisher

★ 2025-07-17
In this ghostly fairy-tale retelling, a spectral Cinderella struggles to stay corporeal enough to make it to the ball.

Sixteen-year-old Ella is a ghost haunting her magical house as a grudge against her murderous stepmother and abusive stepsisters. Being more house than girl compels Ella to slavishly follow her family’s orders in a manner that calls back to Gail Carson Levine’sElla Enchanted, with the added obstacle that she can’t pass beyond the house’s foundation. Despite her limited life experience, Ella is no naïf, inventively expanding her world through mail-order books and distant correspondence while surviving her stepsisters’ unique tortures. As the years pass and people move on, she even discovers a loophole for exploring the city and meeting new faces—like canny fairy Quaint, with whom she barters for an enchanted solution to attend the prince’s ball. The familiar story elements—dress, glass slippers, midnight curfew—are given new life and interpretations, but there is no simple spell to resurrect Ella. Instead, she must carve out new ways of existing in the world and making people see her on her terms. The flesh-and-blood characters are equally compelling: thoughtful revelations subvert the “doting father” and “wicked stepmother” archetypes, while the prince contends with a well-meaning fairy curse that reduces him to a dangerous object of desire. A setting in which both bisexuality and polyamory are woven into the social fabric means more alluring opportunities for Ella’s postmortem romance, which Marske accomplishes with her usual aplomb. Marske unflinchingly explores the ways limited mobility and accessibility can erode one’s sense of self, inspired by her own experiences of being housebound due to long Covid, and how to triumphantly cross those thresholds.

Cinderella finds her happily-ever-afterlife in this sharp addition to the fairy-tale canon.

Kirkus Reviews