by Jane Yolen
First published 1993
Briar Rose finds herself in the dark woods of wartime Europe, where German soldiers march through ancient trees. The familiar fairy tale transforms as she navigates a world where the enemy patrols her forest home. Sleep becomes both curse and refuge in a landscape shadowed by the Holocaust. The spinning wheel's prick takes on new meaning when survival depends on staying hidden from those who would destroy her people. Rose must discover whether love's true kiss can still break curses in a time when evil wears uniforms and carries weapons. Yolen weaves the beloved story into history's darkest chapter, asking whether hope can bloom even in the deepest nightmare. The princess faces choices no fairy tale prepared her for, where awakening might mean confronting horrors worse than any enchanted slumber.
Genres: historical-fiction, fantasy, world-war-ii, fairy-tale-retellings
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fairy-tale-retelling, found-family
Setting: Europe
Period: Wartime
208 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Tor Books
Content warnings: violence