The young fairy Katriona isn’t brimming with confidence; she wonders if she’ll ever discover her true gift. But at the name day ceremony for the new infant princess of the kingdom, she is the one chosen to carry the child to safety after the wicked fairy Pernicia casts a curse. The curse would see the princess die on the day she turns 21. Katriona takes the baby to the small, remote village where she lives with her aunt. The two raise the princess as Rosie, not telling anyone, including Rosie, who she really is. But in the world of fairy tales, fate insists on having a turn. Robin McKinley has recast Sleeping Beauty as a lush, highly engaging novel set in a fantasy world filled with drama, humor, and three-dimensional fairy, human, and animal characters. (Age 12 and older)

Uncover a hidden tale of magic and enchantment in this “brilliant” (The New York Times Book Review) retelling of the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty.

“Full of humor and romance as well as magic and adventure . . . A spellbinding novel.”—Booklist, starred review

A princess in hiding

All the creatures of the forest and field and riverbank knew the infant was special. She was the princess Briar-Rose, spirited away from the evil fairy Pernicia on her name-day. But the curse was cast: Some unknown time in the future, Rosie would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a poisoned sleep from which no one could rouse her.

Katriona is the princess’s kidnapper—and savior. A young fairy, she is apprenticed to and lives with her aunt in the small village of Foggy Bottom. The two of them raise the princess as if she were their own in order to protect her. No other human, not even Rosie herself, knows her true identity.

But Pernicia is looking for her, and Pernicia is formidably powerful and tirelessly intent on revenge for a defeat four hundred years old. Two village fairies and all the animals in the realm may not be able to save Rosie. . . .