With thecritically acclaimed novels The Gate ToWomen's Country, Raising The Stones , and theHugo-nominated Grass , SheriTepper has established herself as one of the majorscience fiction writers of out Time. In Beauty , she broadens her territory evenfurther, with a novel that evokes all the richness offairy tale and fable. Drawing on the wellspringof tales such as "Sleeping Beauty,"Beauty is a moving novel of love and loss, hope anddespair, magic and nature. Set against a backdropboth enchanted and frightening, the story beginswith a wicked aunt's curse that will afflict a youngwoman named Beauty on her sixteenth birthday.Though Beauty is able to sidestep tragedy, she soonfinds herself embarked on an adventure of vastconsequences. For it becomes clear that theenchanted places of this fantastic world--a place notunlike our own--are in danger and must be saved beforeit is too late.