A Modern Cinderella

Douglas, Amanda M., 1831-1916Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 296K words
Chapters: 30

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Modern Cinderella by Amanda M. DouglasAuthor: Douglas, Amanda M., 1831-1916,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 29, 2009

Editor's review

A Modern Cinderella is an early American novel by Amanda M. Douglas that engages in intertextual dialogue with the classic fairy tale of the same name: it moves Cinderella-like character relationships into modern daily life and, through family and emotional entanglements, shows ordinary people's circumstances and choices. Douglas wrote for years for young readers and family audiences, and this work also continues the features of clear plotting and easy-to-follow character relationships, making it a lightweight entry point for understanding late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century American popular fiction and women's narratives. As a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, its main value lies in being freely available and convenient for textual comparison and language learning: readers can treat it as a slow-paced English read and also use it to observe how the Cinderella motif changes in writing from different eras. Note that this is an early English work whose language rhythm and social attitudes are distant from today's readers' habits; it is better read with an awareness of historical context than approached as a modern reading experience with strong plot and fast pacing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy rewritings of classic fairy-tale motifs and are willing to read early American popular fiction
Learners who need free English texts for graded reading or close reading
Literature enthusiasts interested in late nineteenth-century images of women and family narratives
Teachers and students and comparative literature readers studying cross-era variations of the Cinderella story

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strong suspense, fast-paced plots, or contemporary urban writing techniques
Beginners who find the language and period attitudes of early English works hard to adapt to and need a Chinese translation
Young children who want only the original fairy tale rather than a long rewritten novel

Reading tips

Read two or three hundred words first to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read closely or skip, so you do not give up because of the slow pace.
Prepare a simple character-relationship chart and note family and emotional threads as you read to reduce the disorientation caused by early narrative style.
Read it alongside the classic Cinderella and note how the author handles the relationship between "luck" and personal choice.
Read one short section at a fixed time each day and keep vocabulary notes, using the reading also as English language training.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and the classic fairy tale Cinderella?

It is a novel developed from the Cinderella motif, not the original fairy tale: the characters' situations and emotional structure have corresponding echoes, but the story is set in modern daily life and focuses on family relationships and personal choices. It should not be read as a retelling of the fairy tale but as a period rewriting.

How difficult is the English, and what level is it suitable for?

As an early American novel, it has longer sentences and a slower narrative pace, but the plot threads are generally clear. It suits readers with intermediate English reading ability who are willing to look up words and slow down; beginners can first move from short stories or graded readers before trying this book.

What should I note when using the Gutenberg edition?

The Gutenberg edition is a public-domain electronic text, freely available, but it usually contains only the original English text and basic bibliographic information, without modern notes or introductions. Readers can use their own dictionaries, character-relationship notes, or related background materials and should not expect the prefaces and annotations of a printed book.

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About the author

Douglas, Amanda M., 1831-1916 Author

Amanda M. Douglas (1831–1916) was an English-language author known for her inspirational coming-of-age stories; public information about her life and nationality is limited. The collection holds 19 of her works, including A Modern Cinderella, Hope Mills Or, Between Friend and Sweetheart, In Wild Rose Time, and several titles in the "A Little Girl in Old..." series set in Washington, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Salem, as well as Floyd Grandon's Honor. These works generally follow the daily lives and growth of young girls, with gentle plots that emphasize character and feeling, and are commonly classified as inspirational growth. Her plain, warm style uses family and small-town settings to reveal her characters' inner changes, giving her a modest representative place in juvenile literature.