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While Beauty Slept  By  cover art

While Beauty Slept

By: Elizabeth Blackwell
Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
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Publisher's summary

I am not the sort of person about whom stories are told. And so begins Elise Dalriss's story. When she hears her great-granddaughter recount a minstrel's tale about a beautiful princess asleep in a tower, it pushes open a door to the past, a door Elise has long kept locked. For Elise was the companion to the real princess who slumbered - and she is the only one left who knows what actually happened so many years ago. Her story unveils a labyrinth where secrets connect to an inconceivable evil. As only Elise understands all too well, the truth is no fairy tale...

©2014 Elizabeth Blackwell (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Blackwell, previously a reporter and romance writer, makes her historical fiction debut with a gripping tale full of romance, secrets, and promises made and broken. This beautiful, original reinterpretation of a classic story is engrossing and often surprising." ( Library Journal Starred Review)
"Narrator Wanda McCaddon clearly understands the emotional arc of Blackwell's story and gives a moving performance." ( AudioFile)
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What listeners say about While Beauty Slept

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Fun listen

Any additional comments?

Yes, this is a darker version of the fairy tale, but it wasn't too dark or dirty like other re-tellings. I ended the book wishing there was more, but knowing there couldn't be...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Worth It

Although I felt it drag a bit at times, it’s a cohesive tale with an ending that tidies threads up. Narrator makes this “not-a-fairy-take” quite lively and engaging despite any supposed dark undertones.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very good Sleeping Beauty backstory

This is the back story of Sleeping Beauty. Wonderfully written and performed. Great reading and entertainment for teens through adults.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Very Bad Writing

I plodded through 5 hours of the first-person 'narrative,' thinking that any minute the story would 'start,' but simply couldn't take it anymore. Zero character development. Zero originality (I like these sorts of fantasies so the plot seemed to have promise when I read the publisher's summary, but the characters behave along extremely stereotypical lines). The combination made for a very boring listen. I am planning to get my credit back.

Skip this one and read "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card.

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

More historical tragedy than fairy tale.

I was expecting a gritty fairy tale, but instead heard a story with no magic and no real happiness. There is almost no joy in the 12 hour book, and what little there is becomes negated by the incessant doomsday foreshadowing. Overall a depressing book that plodded through tragedy after tragedy.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Full of sexual content.

This book is full of sexual content and yet it is aimed at young readers. The story would have been fine if the author hadn’t put in all the inappropriate passages. It really is sad that so many writers believe all that garbage is acceptable and even feel its necessary to have a good book,but the truth is there are a great many people who just want a clean read.

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