Briar Rose (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Jane Yolen
- First Published: 1992
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
- Time of Work: Primarily the 1990’s, with flashbacks to World War II
- Setting: Boston, Massachusetts; and Warsaw, Poland
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Love or romance, 1940’s, World War II, New England, Mysteries, Grandparents or grandchildren, Boston, Heroes or heroism, Nazism or Nazis, 1990’s, Holocaust, Jewish, Poland or Polish people, Fairy tales, Massachusetts
- Locales: Boston, MA, Warsaw, Poland
The Plot
Briar Rose is one of the Fairy Tale Series created for Ace, then later published by Tor. Briar Rose is a later book in the series. Each novel in the collection is by a different author and is a twentieth century story based on a traditional fairy tale.
In this case, the basis is “Sleeping Beauty.” The heroine of Briar Rose is Becca Berlin, a young Jewish woman who grew up hearing her grandmother (nicknamed Gemma) tell the tale. Shortly before Gemma dies, she tells Becca that the familiar bedtime story is no fantasy: The old woman was the...
[The entire page is 1109 words long]
