The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
A.N. Roquelaure

Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire.

Sleeping Beauty #1 - Originally Published March, 1983
Plume
May 1999
272 pages
ISBN: 0452281423
Trade Size (reprint)
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Erotic

Inspired by the myth of Sleeping Beauty, a favorite of her daughter's, Anne wrote a novel about dominance and submission. Beauty has been asleep for a hundred years. Many princes and suitors have tried to climb her castle walls, but all have been killed by poisionous thorns. One prince makes it through by cutting the plants at the roots and gives Beauty a kiss. The prince claims Beauty as his, and she becomes his slave. The novel explores the psychological process of surrender and the ways that the seemingly helpless claim and exercise power.