William Goldman: I desperately want to write it, and I sit there and nothing happens and I get pissed at myself. I got lucky with The Princess Bride the first time, and I'd love to get lucky again. Goldman died in 2018 without completing the sequel.

THE ORIGINS The premise behind this novel is touching. Before leaving his daughters for a business trip to California, Goldman promised he would write them a story about anything they wanted. One of his daughters wanted a story about a princess and the other a bride, so Goldman fashioned those terms into his title.

When I read this as an adult, the cruel comments he makes about his child were so upsetting that—I am embarrassed to admit this—I looked into it, in what we collectively agree is reality, and was relieved to discover that Goldman never had a son at all. He did have two daughters, one of them named Susanna.

Goldman explains that he only abridged the first chapter of Buttercup's Baby, Morgenstern's sequel to The Princess Bride, because he wasn't allowed to do more. He reminds the reader of the reunion scene and how he encouraged readers to write to the publisher requesting it.