Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty & the Beast

I found this book in my city library when I was 11, living in a camper with no electricity. It was a rough childhood in some ways and this book kept my mind busy. I checked it out constantly. I'm 22 now and it's still my favorite. Highly recommend 💜

I strongly suspect that when the folks at Disney decided to make the "Beauty and the Beast" story into an animated film, they used this book as their template. McKinley's Beauty (real name Honour) is much like Belle in her love of books and horses, though much plainer in appearance and without the nuisance of a Gaston character.Rarely is an author's first novel so worthy of praise. Her later novel "Rose Daughter," another retelling of the same fairy tale, is excellent but not, in my opinion, quite as endearing. Beauty is the youngest, smartest, and least attractive daughter of a successful widowed merchant. When her father's business falls on hard times, the family relocates to a village near an enchanted forest and spends the next few years embracing their newfound poverty. A trip back to the city from which they hail results in Father getting lost in the enchanted forest, where he encounters the Beast and is forced into a terrible bargain: the Beast will spare his life, if one of his daughters will come and live as the Beast's companion.Beauty, arguably her father's favorite child, insists on being the expendable daughter and takes up residence in the Beast's magical castle. Over the course of months she befriends the curious creature, who fosters her love of books and slowly wins her confidence. But when Beauty makes a discovery that will vastly change the life of her eldest sister Grace, the Beast grants her a week at home...where she must finally come to terms with her true feelings for him, before her absence destroys him completely.

This is a book that I originally bought when it was packaged as an adult fantasy novel with a lovely Boris Vallejo cover. It has since been changed to a children's format and labeled ages 9-12 which is sad because I believe many adults who would love this story will overlook it due to its new age labels and format.First, what this book is not--it is not a slam, bam action book or gigantic doorstopper epic.What it is--a wonderful romantic retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. A widower has three daughters, Grace, Hope, and Honour. As a young child, Honour decides that her name is boring and states she would rather be Beauty, and the nickname stuck with her. Kindly Grace and Hope grow up into great beauties, but Beauty grows into a gawky ugly duckling, little concerned with her looks, but proud of her intelligence and way with horses. They all live happily in the city until disastor strikes and they lose almost all their possessions. They move to the country next to a mysterious old forest and as years pass become used to hard work and the peasant life. Beauty thrives, but still suffers from low self esteem. Then their father goes back to the city to check on one of his lost ships and when he returns, brings her a beautiful rose. You know the story--he met the Beast who demanded one of his daughters in exchange for the father's life, because he dare to pluck the rose.Beauty volunteers to got to the Beast, taking only her warhorse turned plowhorse, Great Heart. She meets the Beast and encounters all the mysteries of his strange castle and invisible servants, some fearful and some wondrous. A sweet and charming romance ensues as the Beast asks her every night for her hand in marriage.The author really makes the character of Beauty come to life--her wry, self-deprecating humor, her love of nature and books, her wonder, and sometimes fear of, the magic surrounding her, the gentle changing and unfolding of her feelings about the Beast. And the Beast is just as wonderful, you can feel his sad yearning for love, his hard-earned wisdom, his patience with Beauty and her fears, his strength and temper and sorrow. There is wit and humor, sadness and joy. This is just a wonderful book that I read again and again.

I really enjoyed this book. It was really sad what ended up happening to Beauty ( I am not going to give it away if you haven't read it). It was really great!