Cinderella Liberator

As CINDERELLA LIBERATOR begins, our main character is shown mopping the floor, doing the laundry, and ironing the clothes, and we learn she's sometimes tired and lonely but she's also strong, capable, and a good cook and baker. When her stepsisters get an invitation for Prince Nevermind to go to his ball, Pearlita tries to give herself the highest hair-do, because "surely, having the tallest hair in the world would make you the most beautiful woman, and being the most beautiful woman in the world would make you the happiest." Her sister, Paloma, puts as many bows as possible on her dress, thinking, "having the fanciest dress in he world would make you the the most beautiful woman, and being the most beautiful woman in the world would make you the happiest." They go off to the ball, and, as usual, a fairy godmother appears, transforms a pumpkin into a carriage, mice into horses, a rat into a coachwoman, and lizards into footwomen, and waves her wand to change Cinderella's dress into a ball gown and give her glass slippers. She goes to the ball, dances with the prince, and when he asks who she is, she runs away, leaving one glass slipper behind. When the prince goes house to house in the village to find the girl the slipper belongs to, he finds perfect-fit Cinderella. Then comes a new backstory about her father (a great judge) and mother (a ship captain), who are both still living, and we find out the prince has dreams of his own. He and Cinderella become friends and pursue their separate paths -- hers to open a bake shop, his to have a farm. Even the stepsisters' dreams come true: Peralita opens a hair salon, and Paloma becomes a seamstress in a dress shop.