Description:Drawing
on the wellspring of much-loved, well-remembered fairy tales, Tepper
delivers a thought-provoking and finely crafted novel that thoroughly
involves the reader in the life of one of the most captivating heroines
in modern fantasy -- Beauty. On her sixteenth birthday Beauty is
seemingly able to sidestep her aunt's curse. Instead she is transported
to the future. Here begin her adventures as she travels magically back
and forth in time to visit places both imaginary and real. Finally she
comes to understand what has been her special gift to humanity all
along.
For in Beauty, there is beauty. And in beauty, magic.
Without our enchanted places, humanity is no more than an upstart ape.
And this, we realize, is why Beauty must be saved, both in the
fantastical world of Tepper's novel and in the actual world in which we
live.