With the critically acclaimed novels The Gate To Women's Country, Raising The Stones, and the Hugo-nominated Grass, Sheri Tepper has established herself as one of the major science fiction writers of out Time. In Beauty, she broadens her territory even further, with a novel that evokes all the richness of fairy tale and fable. Drawing on the wellspring of tales such as "Sleeping Beauty," Beauty is a moving novel of love and loss, hope and despair, magic and nature. Set against a backdrop both enchanted and frightening, the story begins with a wicked aunt's curse that will afflict a young woman named Beauty on her sixteenth birthday. Though Beauty is able to sidestep tragedy, she soon finds herself embarked on an adventure of vast consequences. For it becomes clear that the enchanted places of this fantastic world--a place not unlike our own--are in danger and must be saved before it is too late.
With the critically acclaimed novels The Gate To Women's Country, Raising The Stones, and the Hugo-nominated Grass, Sheri Tepper has established herself as one of the major science fiction writers of out Time. In Beauty, she broadens her territory even further, with a novel that evokes all the richness of fairy tale and fable. Drawing on the wellspring of tales such as "Sleeping Beauty," Beauty is a moving novel of love and loss, hope and despair, magic and nature. Set against a backdrop both enchanted and frightening, the story begins with a wicked aunt's curse that will afflict a young woman named Beauty on her sixteenth birthday. Though Beauty is able to sidestep tragedy, she soon finds herself embarked on an adventure of vast consequences. For it becomes clear that the enchanted places of this fantastic world--a place not unlike our own--are in danger and must be saved before it is too late.
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) is the award-winning author of A Plague of Angels, Sideshow, Beauty, Raising the Stones, Grass, The Gate to Women's Country, After Long Silence, and Shadow's End. Grass was a New York Times Notable Book and Hugo Award nominee, and Beauty was voted Best Fantasy Novel by the readers of Locus magazine.
"Tepper is a wise and compassionate narrator, and when
it comes to spinning a yarn that you don't ever want
to stop reading, there are few better spinners
than she."--The Magazine Of Fantasy &
Science Fiction
"Magnificent. . .This adult fairly tale entertains and
delivers a message in the best tradition of the fantasy
classics."--The Denver Post.
Born in the 14th century to a woman of faerie blood, Beauty is raised by a negligent father and several doting aunts until her 16th birthday, when she narrowly escapes the curse set upon her at her christening. While her household falls into an enchanted sleep, she undertakes a journey across the leagues of time to the modern world and beyond, into an imaginary universe, in search of her destiny. Identifying the familiar fairy tales cleverly retold in this graceful novel only scratches the surface of the story behind the stories. Tepper ( Grass , LJ 9/15/89; The Gate to Women's Country , Doubleday, 1988) writes from the heart, using the stuff of childhood fables to tell a cautionary yet hopeful tale. Most libraries will want this.
The latest from the talented Tepper ( The Gate to Women's Country ) is many things: a fantasy of manners, a dystopian science fiction tale, a time-travel story and an eco-morality play. Still more impressive is the evolution of the narrator and title character, whom we follow for a century of life (ages 16 to 116) as she matures gradually and subtly from a pouty, slightly spoiled daughter of a duke to a wise old woman. Retelling various fairy tales, Tepper strips away each story's gloss. Sleeping Beauty's sleep continues endlessly, prince notwithstanding; Cinderella is as heartless and nasty to her ugly stepsisters as they are to her; and Snow White is a blond bimbo, while the dwarfs are a querulous collection of Basque brothers. Tepper manages to maintain interest, style and theme throughout these disparate elements, and she consistently sniffs out the ugly (e.g., the storybook land of Chinanga, which has all the facets of a fairyland but is an extremely boring place to live). Despite an often depressing worldview, this is a beautiful book from one of the genre's best writers. (Aug.)
"Tepper is a wise and compassionate narrator, and when it comes to
spinning a yarn that you don't ever want to stop reading, there are
few better spinners than she."--The Magazine Of Fantasy &
Science Fiction
"Magnificent. . .This adult fairly tale entertains and delivers a
message in the best tradition of the fantasy classics."--The
Denver Post.
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