Trap for Cinderella

In this dreamy, haunted noir from Japrisot (1931–2003), first published in 1962, an unnamed young woman, a burn victim with amnesia, awakes from a coma in a private clinic outside Paris. At first, it appears the woman is Domenica “Do” Loï, the survivor of a fire caused by a gas leak that killed her cousin, Michèle “Mi” Isola, at the house where they lived on the French Riviera. But as Do regains her memory in fits and starts, and she realizes she was somehow complicit in the fatal fire, she starts to wonder whether she is Mi, the supposed victim. Meanwhile, the vengeful Jeanne Murneau, Mi’s former governess, schemes to gain the inheritance of her rich onetime employer, the late Midola, an Italian shoe magnate Do and Mi knew as their godmother and called Aunt Midola. The tumult and confusion, as well as a heavily telegraphed surprise, leave the reader as puzzled as Do or Mi, whichever of them is still alive. More complicated than clever, this dark fairy tale doesn’t represent Japrisot at his best. (Sept.)