Spindle Fire

In Hillyer’s (Proof of Forever) inventive take on Sleeping Beauty, 16-year-old Princess Aurora of Deluce cannot speak or feel, and her older half-sister, Isbe, is blind—these senses were “tithed” by fairies when they were babies. Aurora is to be married to Prince Phillip of Aubin, forging an alliance between their kingdoms, but when Philip and his brother Edward are murdered, it’s suspected to be the work of the faerie queen Malfleur, who is planning war. Aurora will now be wed to a third prince, William, and Isbe is to be sent to a convent. When Isbe runs away, Aurora goes after her, happening upon a cottage where she pricks her finger on a spindle and is transported to a dreamland called Sommeil, while a sleeping sickness sweeps her own kingdom. Now Isbe must save Aurora. Aurora and Isbe are no delicate flowers, and Hillyer’s depiction of Isbe’s blindness is especially resonant. There is romance, but it’s the devotion between these sisters that makes this story sing and that will leave readers eager to continue their story. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management. (Apr.) [/em]