audrey

It takes place in a country cealld Eland, in Western Europe, ruled by the plain-looking but compassionate and intelligent Prince Nath, and terrorized by a small but loud religious fundamentalist group cealld the Adamians;The Adamians were Calvinistic, patriarchal, anti-feminist and quiverfull people who believe women should be at home, being submissive to her husband and birthing multiple children according to Genesis Be Fruitful and Multiply'. They do not let their children play with each other (except their siblings and relatives) nor do they send them to school, they have strict homeschooling and strict corporal punishment. Women are neither allowed to go to school or work outside the home. Their only option is to be stay at home being mothers and homemakers.Josephine (the Cinderella) lives with her stepfamily, her father died and her stepmother remarried again; Victoria was a one time free woman now bitter and shows no sympathy to Josephine; Grace Wisdom and Promise are two pretty but self-righteous and hypocritical stepsisters; Godfrey is Josephine's Stepfather, a seemingly kind but misogynistic and harsh man, with his two equally chauvinistic and vain sons Noah and Isaac. The leader of the Adamian community is Elder Hardy, a gynophobe and wife-beater.Prince Nath is suffering from an illness and will die within a year, he must find a wise queen to look after his kingdom. Elder Hardy heard of this and planned to have one of his daughters to marry the prince, and after he dies, she would remarry an Adamian boy and convert Eland to their religion.Josephine was threatened many times by her stepfamily (she was rebellious and bold but timid) and refuse to let her come because she is a whore of babylon' (to them) and if she does not behave feminine she would be sent to a brothel. Josephine ran into the forest to cry, but she finds a statue of the forgotten Queen of Heaven, Eland's ancient Mother Goddess, and later renamed the Virgin Mary after Christianity came. The Adamians hated this statue because it was female and banned anyone going near it. Out of the woods was a pagan wise woman named Rowena, who served the Queen of Heaven in secret and helped Josephine in a fairy godmother way.And after Josephine became queen, she planned to brutally execute her stepmother and sisters for their cruelty, but then she had a vision from the tearful Queen of heaven, begging for mercy (quoting Shakespeare's Quality of Mercy). Josephine the saw that she allowed her anger cloud her judgment, and pardoned her stepfamily and allowed them to stay with her. A year later, she was crowned Queen ruler of Eland, and the Adamians diminished but spread somewhere else. Josephine then wrote she didn't felt like a man and more than a woman, she felt human.

J'aime bien Audrey et Yoann ^^