Description

From the activist, historian, feminist icon, and award-winning author of many books, including Men Explain Things to Me and Hope in the Dark, comes this powerful retelling of an outdated classic. Waking Beauty details the great adventures of Maya, Sleeping Beauty’s sister—the inspiring, extraordinary artist and changemaker who “found [beauty] everywhere and gave it to everyone.” Alongside Maya’s are the stories of Atlas, guardian of the golden apples whose journey breaks free from the motif of a “handsome savior/prince,” and Ida, who slept for a century and woke up in a very different world. As their parallel journeys converge, Maya, Atlas, and Ida encourage readers to question and expand what “beauty” is and can be. The perfect follow-up to Cinderella Liberator, these compelling narratives are seamlessly woven together by Solnit, crafting a story that is as delightful
and enchanting as it is empowering. The world of Waking Beauty, populated by fairy godmothers, firebirds, and more, will inspire young readers to see beyond archaic fairy-tale archetypes and imagine new possibilities for heroes, heroines,
and happily-ever-afters.

REBECCA SOLNIT is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, Western and Indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster. Her many books include Call Them by Their True Names (winner of the 2018 Kirkus Prize for nonfiction), Cinderella Liberator, and Men Explain Things to Me.