While Beauty Slept - Softcover

Blackwell, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425273849 ISBN 13: 9780425273845

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2014

Synopsis

“Elizabeth Blackwell is a story-telling genius. Her mesmerizing writing weaves a spell that will enchant you. While Beauty Slept breathes new life into the fairytale genre with a historical twist that will take your breath away.” —Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries and Heather Wells mystery series

I am not the sort of person about whom stories are told. Those of humble birth suffer their heartbreaks and celebrate their triumphs unnoticed by the bards, leaving no trace in the fables of their time...
 
And so begins Elise Dalriss’s story. When she hears her great-granddaughter recount a minstrel’s tale about a beautiful princess asleep in a tower, it pushes open a door to the past, a door Elise has long kept locked. For Elise was the companion to the real princess who slumbered—and she is the only one left who knows what actually happened so many years ago.
 
As the memories start to unfold, Elise is plunged back into the magnificent world behind the palace walls she left behind more than a half century ago, a labyrinth where the secrets of her real father and the mysterious fate of her mother connect to an inconceivable evil. Elise has guarded these secrets for a lifetime. As only Elise understands all too well, the truth is no fairy tale.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Blackwell is a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Ladies’ Home Journal, Parenting, and the Chicago Tribune, among other publications.

From Booklist:

In this magical reimagining of the fifteenth-century fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty’s story is told from the perspective of Elise Darliss, a poor farm girl who finds a place in the castle as a maid. Thanks to a strong work ethic and her rare ability to read and write, she eventually earns the position of private maid to the queen herself. The queen is kind, and Elise comes to know her well, and when the legendary princess is born, she befriends her, too. The rest of the tale is famously well-known, but Blackwell treats readers to a retelling that makes historical fiction of the fantasy. And, while she relates what really happened at the castle, we also get to see Elise bloom as she grows from farm girl to respectable lady. The story is dark and enchanting, if a little contrived at times, and Blackwell’s rendering of the medieval setting is rich and detailed. Following in the inspired footsteps of Gregory Maguire’s fairy-tale twists, this debut novel puts a spellbinding new spin on a classic yarn. --Cortney Ophoff

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0425273849
• ISBN 13: 9780425273845
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464