Cinder House

Cinder House is a Gothic fantasy novella by Freya Marske that reimagines the story of Cinderella. Ella was killed at sixteen, and her ghost now haunts her father's house, where only her stepmother and stepsisters can see her. In time she learns to slip beyond its walls, but there are rules: the living cannot see or hear her, her family must never discover she can leave, and every night at midnight she is pulled back to the staircase where she died. Then Ella forms a wary friendship with a fairy who sells charms and strikes a bargain for three nights in which she can almost live again, be seen and dance. Familiar pieces of the fairy tale take on new meaning in this romantic, bittersweet story, a 2026 Hugo Award finalist for Best Novella.