Expanding, transforming, and subverting the magical tale of Sleeping Beauty, Rebecca Solnit revitalizes this classic story with a new perspective: Maya, the sister who stayed awake.
Waking Beauty tells of Maya’s great adventures, the inspiring, extraordinary artist and change-maker who “found [beauty] everywhere and gave it to everyone”; Atlas, who guarded the golden apples and was definitely not a prince; and Ida, who slept for a century and woke up in a very different world. The perfect follow-up to Cinderella Liberator, Solnit seamlessly weaves these compelling narratives, crafting a story that is as delightful and enchanting as it is empowering.
Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books, including Orwell’s Roses; Hope in the Dark; Men Explain Things to Me; A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster; and A Field Guide to Getting Lost. A longtime climate and human rights activist, she serves on the board of the climate group Oil Change International, and the advisory boards of Dayenu and Third Act.
Publication date: November 15, 2022
“Playful and inventive in its handling of gender roles, this fairy tale mashup is surprising and delightful, inverting expectations. A retold fairy tale wrapped in a fantasy cloak, Waking Beauty satisfies and charms with its reinvented gender roles and inventive magic.”
—Foreword Reviews, starred review
