The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty A Novel [Paperback]

Before E.L. James’Fifty Shades of Greyand Sylvia Day'sBared to You, there was Anne Rice’sNew York Timesbest sellerThe Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

In the traditional folktale of Sleeping Beauty, the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. In the first book of the series, Anne Rice (author of Beauty's Kingdom), writing as A.N. Roquelaure, retells the Beauty story and probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him . . . as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience. Readers ofFifty Shades of Greywill indulge in Rice’s deft storytelling and imaginative eroticism, a sure-to-be classic for years to come.

Articulate, baroque, and fashionably pornographic. —Playboy

Something very special . . . at once so light and yet so haunting. —The Advocate

Anne Rice was born in New Orleans in 1941. She is the author of many bestselling novels, including the widely successful Vampire Chronicles. Her first novel,Interview with the Vampire, was made into a film in 1994 starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Her other books include the Mayfair Witches series, the novelsThe Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Violin, Angel Time,the Sleeping Beauty trilogy, and most recently,The Wolf Gift. Anne lives and works in Southern California.

THE PRINCE had all his young life known the story of Sleeping Beauty, cursed to sleep for a hundred yearsl³