Cinder House by Freya Marske
Published by Pan Macmillan
Age Group: Adult
Format: Novella
Genres and Categories: Bisexual Characters, Mental Health Representation, Dark Fantasy, Fairytales, Gothic Fantasy, Romantasy, Disabled and Neurodivergent Authors, Ghosts, Witches, Magic Users, Royalty Characters, Mental Health, Trauma, Shadow Magic, Various Magic
My Rating:
Published on: 9th October 2025
Pages: 144
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones / BookBeat Audio
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Sparks fly and lovers dance in this gorgeous, yearning Cinderella retelling from bestselling author Freya Marske – a queer Gothic fairy tale novella perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and T. Kingfisher.

You think you know Cinderella’s story: the ball, the magical shoes, the handsome prince.

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

Ella is a haunting. Murdered at sixteen, her furious ghost is 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.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

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I’m not a huge fan of novellas; however, I’ve adored everything Freya Marske has written so far, which meant I had to check out Cinder House. Cinder House by Freya Marske is a Cinderella retelling with a difference; Ella is a spirit, a haunting that is tied to the very fabric of the place she died. She feels the walls and windows as if they are a part of her. When her cruel stepsister realises this, she controls her by harming the house, and in turn, hurting Ella. As a result, Ella ends up serving her stepsisters and stepmother.

Uncovering the ability to leave the house, Ella starts to test her limits, learning that as soon as the clock rings midnight, she is returned home. One night, she finds herself at a market, and she’s shocked when a stall owner speaks to her and recognises her as a ghost. Recognising the woman as a fairy, she begins to spend time with Quaint, learning more about fairy magic and ghost lore. On other nights, she attends night classes at one of the city’s universities, learning more about magic. She also rediscovers the theatre and becomes fascinated with a young man, wondering what he sees in the performance that makes him so animated.

As with the original fairytale, everything comes to a head at a ball, and Ella finds a way to attend the ball. There, she learns that the man she’s been watching is none other than the Prince himself. She disappears at midnight, and he is left wondering who the strange girl is.

Marske takes the fairytale in a slightly different direction from the original, and there have been a lot of reviews complaining about the LGBT content, mainly the lack of it. I have to admit I was confused at first about the lack of obvious sapphic content, but after re-reading the synopsis, I realised my mistake. The book was promoted with an emphasis on ‘yearning’, and that is present in the novella. But if you’re looking for a sapphic romance on page, then this isn’t for you, and the ‘yearning’ exists in the form of a pre-existing relationship between Ella and another female character. As with all novellas, I was left wanting more, and I was satisfied with the open-ended conclusion.

I enjoyed this retelling, but what completely sold me on Cinder House was the author’s note at the end. I had no idea that Marske had long COVID, and she explains how Ella’s story was born from being trapped in her own house, battling the condition. That is something that hit home as someone with moderate ME/CFS, and let me see this story in an entirely different light. This beautiful novella emulates what it feels like to be trapped by circumstances beyond one’s control, and like Ella, people with energy-limiting conditions often feel like they have to make a magical deal to leave their house.

About Freya Marske

Freya Marske lives in Australia, where she is yet to be killed by any form of wildlife. She writes stories full of magic, blood, and as much kissing as she can get away with, and she co-hosted the Hugo Award nominated podcast Be the Serpent. Her hobbies include figure skating and discovering new art galleries, and she is on a quest to try all the gin in the world.

Website | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter | Blue Sky

Thanks for reading my book review for Cinder House by Freya Marske!

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