RACHEL HOCHHAUSER
COMING MARCH 3, 2026
"Feminist, fierce, and wildly fresh: Lady Tremaine is my kind of fairy tale. As we resurrect and re-examine the historical women we’ve maligned, Hochhauser insists we include the wicked stepmothers. Hochhauser’s prose is poetic, her story hypnotic, and her characters will live in my head and heart forever. Lady Tremaine is destined to be one of the biggest books of the year."
Glennon Doyle #1 bestselling author of Untamed
LADY TREMAINE
A Novel by Rachel Hochhauser
"Lady Tremaine left me in awe. Breathing new life into a timeless fairy tale, this is the story of a complex, resilient mother who demonstrates that love does not always come naturally: it is often built on difficult choices. A must-read for anyone who believes in the power of second chances, the nuances of motherhood, and the ways in which strength evolves through adversity. Hochhauser's storytelling is a poignant reminder that even fairy tale villains have a story worth telling. My favorite read of the year so far!"
Sarah Penner New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
"Wit, wisdom, poetry on every page. Hochhauser brilliantly takes a classic from a shelf and reads from it in a voice that's both hauntingly familiar and crisp in contemporary understanding. Her reappraisal of the cages we build for ourselves––in marriage and in love––reveals the freedom we possess, if only we’d look up and wait patiently for the hunting hawk’s heart to return to our outstretched arm. Amazing work.”
Mark Richard PEN/Hemingway Award winner and author of The Ice at the Bottom of the World
"Both intimate and epic in scope, Lady Tremaine shatters our preconceptions of a famous fairy tale villain, presenting instead a mesmerizing portrait of a woman who discovers that real enchantment comes from daring to rewrite your own destiny. With spellbinding prose and haunting moral complexity, Hochhauser excavates the heart of a timeless story, revealing the profound humanity that exists in the spaces between good and wicked. A stunning debut."
Kimberly King Parsons National Book Award finalist and author of We Were the Universe
ABOUT
Rachel Hochhauser is a writer and co-founder of Piecework, a cult-favorite puzzle brand with an international following. Raised in Santa Barbara, she studied at New York University and earned her master’s in professional writing from the University of Southern California. She now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two young daughters.
Her debut novel, Lady Tremaine, will be published by St. Martin’s Press (U.S.), Orion (U.K.), and Fleuve-Éditions (France) in March 2026.
CONTACT