Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Filled with magic and fierce emotion, Lisa Jensen's multilayered novel will make you question all you think you know about beauty, beastliness, and happily ever after. They say Château Beaumont is cursed. But servant-girl Lucie can’t believe such foolishness about handsome Jean-Loup Christian Henri LeNoir, Chevalier de Beaumont, master of the estate. But when the chevalier's cruelty is revealed, Lucie vows to see him suffer. A wisewoman grants her wish, with a spell that transforms Jean-Loup into monstrous-looking Beast, reflecting the monster he is inside. But Beast is nothing like the chevalier. Jean-Loup would never patiently tend his roses; Jean-Loup would never attempt poetry; Jean-Loup would never express remorse for the wrong done to Lucie. Gradually, Lucie realizes that Beast is an entirely different creature from the handsome chevalier, with a heart more human than Jean-Loup’s ever was. Lucie dares to hope that noble Beast has permanently replaced the cruel Jean-Loup — until an innocent beauty arrives at Beast’s château with the power to break the spell.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this compelling reimagining of "Beauty and the Beast," Jensen integrates a new plot thread in the form of a third protagonist into the familiar fairy tale. Chambermaid Lucie is transformed into an ever-burning candlestick by the same spell that turns the wicked Jean-Loup, Chevalier du Beaumont, into the gentle-souled, monstrous-seeming Beast. Because Jean-Loup sexually assaulted her soon after they first met, Lucie is eager to witness his downfall, but equally unprepared to develop sympathy for the Beast, who seems an entirely different person altogether. Then Rose arrives, fulfilling a desperate bargain made between her impoverished merchant father and the Beast, and Lucie must find a way to protect her friend from falling in love, breaking his curse, and thus allowing the cruel Jean-Loup to return. Jensen (The Witch from the Sea) includes all of the tale's most significant elements including the classic romance, evoking both the traditional story and the Disney version while still adding new twists and depths. Haunting language and lush descriptions ("the petals are long-dead; they have lost their bright color and velvety texture and curled into crisp, dry cinders...") engage the senses, making this a memorable, worthy addition to the canon of "Beauty and the Beast" retellings. Ages 16 up.
