Slipper

Slipper is all at once an entertaining lark carrying the reader along with a youngster’s adventures and a gently perceptive description of emotions of children, teens, lovers, and the self-absorbed. Fresh light touches and an absence of clichés make Velmans’ writing a pure pleasure to savor.Life’s steepest hurdles are overcome by our spunky heroine, and we receive a lesson in European history without even noticing.Readers with a smattering of French will laugh out loud at the names – Countess Bienmaline and the Marquis de Quelconque come to mind.There is a maid named Lucinda, a motherly Mrs. Goose, a slipper: will the prince eventually appear?

With a blend of history, humor and an irresistible and entirely original writing style, Velmans weaves an impossible-to-put-down tale. Addictive, bawdy, feminist, laugh out loud funny and sad enough to bring you to tears. I LOVED THIS BOOK!

An adult interpretation of children’s classic stories blended seamlessly and colored by the dark side of human nature with women bristling under the rule of men as we follow one young woman’s life long search for true love. In “Slipper” Hester Velmans gives us a clever mix of 17th century history and fantasy set in the time of author Charles Perrault who wrote the best known fairytales Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, and others. Fans of these romantic archetypes will enjoy the new twists on old tropes.

About half way through this book, I realized that I was trying to like something about any of the characters. When I got about 65% through, I gave up. It seemed to move slowly through an uninteresting plot. Sorry to say, I'm slipping this one out of my library.

A wonderful Fairytale based on Charles Perrault's (who knew?) Cinderella. So many unexpected and delightful twists and turns; I believe Velmans must have enjoyed writing it as much as her readers will enjoy every wondrous page.

This is a wonderfully spun feminist tale that I read almost in one sitting on a transatlantic flight. I don’t know what I would have done without it. Velmans’s prose transports you easily to another world, a historical time, and keeps you in the edge of your seat.

Loved this book and read it cover to cover in 2 sittings. Really clever weaving of familar tales and it felt much more realistic than the typical romantic tale from that period.

Brilliant. I couldn’t put Slipper down as Hester Velmans takes her Cinderella on a fantastic journey. The writing is glorious!

Slipper by Hester Velmans was the first novel in a while that I’ve read that kept my interest. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and this is rare for me in most books.However, I will say that I wasn't a fan of the author's style of writing and sometimes found it confusing. I didn't care for the last paragraph of the novel. It was weird and felt like it didn't fit.But I loved the main character even if at times I wanted to scream at her. I would read more from Hester Velman as she knows how to write a good storyline.