“Beauty: “You called me beautiful last night.”
Beast: “You do not believe me then?”
Beauty: “Well – no. Any number of mirrors have told me otherwise.”
Beast: “You will find no mirrors here, for I cannot bear them: nor any quiet water in ponds. And since I am the only one who sees you, why are you not then beautiful?”
― Robin McKinley, Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

While this is typically categorized as a children’s book, I read it first as an adult and enjoyed it very much. This is a retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story. When Honour was a child, she asked to be called Beauty instead. As she grows older she does not like her nickname since it is her two sisters who are the beautiful and polished ones while she is plain, thin, and awkward. As in the original story, her father becomes lost on his way home and receives shelter in a mysterious castle. As he was leaving, he picks a rose to bring to Beauty and the owner of the castle becomes furious at how his hospitality was repaid. The beast agrees to let Beauty’s father go if one of his daughters will come and live at the castle. Despite her family’s protests, Beauty agrees to the demand. The rest, as they say, is history. Beauty not only discovers the true nature of the Beast, but discovers herself as well.

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