Beauty/Rose Daughter - 5 stars!

     Robin McKinley is a Newbery Medal winner, and in her writing career of over thirty years she has written two retellings of the classic fairy tale: Beauty and the Beast. Separated by twenty years of time and writing experiences, Beauty and Rose Daughter are nevertheless both distinct from each other and are both good books on their own merit. Since they are both retellings of the same fairy tale and share many aspects, however, I will review them both together.

     Both stories follow the outline of the original fairy tale quite closely. The narrator, Beauty, is the youngest of the three daughters of a wealthy merchant. When their father looses all his money, they have to leave their home to live out in the country. Then when their father gets lost on a journey, he stumbles upon the castle of the Beast and incurs his wrath when he takes a rose for Beauty to enjoy. In return for his life, the merchant must send Beauty to live with the Beast, but when she comes to stay, Beauty proceeds to unlock the secrets of the Beast's mysterious castle and the enchantment he is under.


     The two Beauty's of Beauty and Rose Daughter share several traits. They are both loving and help to keep their families together under the strain of leaving their city home in utter poverty. They are both strong young women, not fearless but courageous and intelligent. They both voluntarily agree to the Beast's bargain to save their families, and after they get to know him, they both try to uncover the secrets of his enchantment.

     The Beauty of Beauty is far from a beauty, being plain and thin. Inside, however, she is truly a gem. Her family's livelihood in their new home depends on her resourcefulness after they leave the home they had always known, devastated by their loss. Several years later, she again shows her true courage when she chooses to leave her family, including her sister Hope's little daughter, for the mystery and menace of the Beast's mysterious castle. Her only comfort is the hope that even a Beast can be tamed. 

     In Rose Daughter, Beauty is obsessed with roses, the rare flower which reminds her of her dead mother. In their new home, Rose Cottage, Beauty discovers her green thumb - and something else: A once magnificent rose garden now sunk into weeds and dead growth. She soon returns it to its former glory and in so doing brings to the surface an old rumor about a curse on Rose Cottage. When the Beast commands her father to bring Beauty to his castle, Beauty learns that the Beast wants her to help his roses. But tangled among the thorns is a dark curse of terrible power that Beauty must unravel before she can complete her task and go home.

     In both stories, Robin McKinley creates remarkable families with strong female characters - not just Beauty, but her sisters as well. Her verisons of the original Beauty and the Beast stay true to the original story, but are still unique - from the original, from other versions, and from each other. I had my doubts at first - I thought McKinley wouldn't be able to pull off another version of the same fairy tale. I was wrong. Both Beauty and Rose Daughter are excellent books in their own ways and for different reasons. I would highly recommend them to fantasy readers and those who want to enjoy a classic fairy tale retold by an acclaimed author. They're worth it.

Link to author website: http://www.robinmckinley.com/