Beauty

by Sheri S. Tepper

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553295276
Publisher:	Random House Worlds
Publication date:	03/01/1992
Series:	Spectra Special Editions
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	4.18(w) x 6.83(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

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.

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Excerpted from "Beauty"
by .
Copyright © 1992 Sheri S. Tepper.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

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.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

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.

Library Journal

YA-- Many a reader has had the sometimes sobering, sometimes epiphanic experience of rereading a favorite from her youth only to discover that its remembered charms only scratched the surface of its treasures. Beauty is such a book. It takes the form of a diary, written by a 15-year-old girl of noble birth, begun in 1347 as the unsuspecting heroine is about to embark upon a harrowing journey through time and space. It is not long before readers recognize the writer as a familiar character, ``Sleeping Beauty.'' Tepper's triumph in this novel is in turning Beauty simultaneously into a distinctive human character and a glowing symbol of humanity's hope. Her victory over the fantastic circumstances of her life (and do not make the mistake of assuming that familiarity with the fairy tale is familiarity with the plot) will be shared by readers. Language, story, and setting combine to enliven the character and amplify the theme. The fairy-tale allusions might provide an excellent English-class exercise, while the ethical systems presented should make for lively debate. And when today's young readers return to Beauty at age 40, they won't be disappointed. --Cathy Chauvette, Fairfax County Pub . Lib . , VA

School Library Journal

"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.

From the Publisher