While Beauty Slept
By Elizabeth Blackwell
Amy Einhorn Book February 2014
432 pages
From the library
Elise is a poor farm girl, working to survive with her parents and her many siblings. But she knows that her mother used to have a better life among the glitter and glamour of the royal palace. When a plague decimates much of her family, Elise travels to the palace herself and becomes one of Queen Lenore's attendants. The queen is unable to conceive and has turned to her husband's aunt Millicent in the hope that she can help her. When baby Rose is finally born, Millicent tries to cash in her help for power and prestige. The king is outraged and banishes her but not before Millicent promises that she will have revenge. As the years pass and Rose grows up, the royal family seems to forget about the curse but Elise is determined to protect them at any cost.
There is a lot to enjoy about While Beauty Slept. Elise is a fantastic protagonist and this story is just as much about her journey into adulthood as it is about telling the real story behind a famous legend. Her family is either dead or distant and Elise creates new bonds within the castle walls. She finds people who champion her and decides that she will fight with everything she has to keep the royal family safe. Many of us feel that this search for family outside of our blood relatives is a modern concept, but people have been finding love and connection among friends and co-workers for centuries.
The story of Sleeping Beauty that we all know and love is intrinsically magical - the evil Millificent curses the baby Rose, who is protected for a time by good fairies before Millificent is able to cast her spell and force the princess to sleep for eternity. Blackwell imagines how this story might have happened in the real world and easily evolved over the years and many retellings. Blackwell works well with opposites, placing her story squarely between the poverty of the village and the opulence of the palace and the interior battles between loyalty and love. It speaks volumes about the talent of a writer when they take magic out of the equation and leave the reader loving a story more than they did before.
My only complaint about this re-telling is the heavy hand of foreshadowing. Because Elise is telling this story many years later, she is aware of all the details that she didn't understand at the time. But her pointing out that "things would have been different" if only she had known or done something differently becomes grating after the first few times and really breaks up the narrative.
While Beauty Slept is the perfect read for anyone who loves historical fiction or fairy tales. Life in the village and within the castle walls is brought to exquisite life and the characters seem like they could walk off the page and into the real world. If you thought you loved Sleeping Beauty and her story of magic and true love, be prepared to love Elise and her courage and conviction even more.
There is a lot to enjoy about While Beauty Slept. Elise is a fantastic protagonist and this story is just as much about her journey into adulthood as it is about telling the real story behind a famous legend. Her family is either dead or distant and Elise creates new bonds within the castle walls. She finds people who champion her and decides that she will fight with everything she has to keep the royal family safe. Many of us feel that this search for family outside of our blood relatives is a modern concept, but people have been finding love and connection among friends and co-workers for centuries.
The story of Sleeping Beauty that we all know and love is intrinsically magical - the evil Millificent curses the baby Rose, who is protected for a time by good fairies before Millificent is able to cast her spell and force the princess to sleep for eternity. Blackwell imagines how this story might have happened in the real world and easily evolved over the years and many retellings. Blackwell works well with opposites, placing her story squarely between the poverty of the village and the opulence of the palace and the interior battles between loyalty and love. It speaks volumes about the talent of a writer when they take magic out of the equation and leave the reader loving a story more than they did before.
My only complaint about this re-telling is the heavy hand of foreshadowing. Because Elise is telling this story many years later, she is aware of all the details that she didn't understand at the time. But her pointing out that "things would have been different" if only she had known or done something differently becomes grating after the first few times and really breaks up the narrative.
While Beauty Slept is the perfect read for anyone who loves historical fiction or fairy tales. Life in the village and within the castle walls is brought to exquisite life and the characters seem like they could walk off the page and into the real world. If you thought you loved Sleeping Beauty and her story of magic and true love, be prepared to love Elise and her courage and conviction even more.
I love good retellings of fairy tales. Sleeping Beauty was always one of my favorites as a child. I can't wait to read this version of it. Great review!
ReplyDeleteIt was really good and it reminded me to read more stories like this!
DeleteThis sounds fascinating, though I admit I'm not usually one for the retelling of fairy tales. They make me crave less abstraction, I think is the main issue I have with them. I think I'm too literal minded to appreciate folk/fairy tales to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteI think what was interesting about this one is that it showed what could have happened if magic wasn't a part of the equation. It might be a good one for you to try!
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