Editions

Spindle's End

Spindle's End

An exceptional retelling of The Sleeping Beauty which takes the reader into a magical world filled with modern characters, encountering adventure, love and loss. Rosie is very, very ordinary. No-one, not even an extremely powerful and evil fairy who is out for the princess's blood, would give Rosie a second glance. But then, even Rosie doesn't know the secret of her own birth...and she cannot be hidden forever as her twenty-first birthday approaches. The curse placed on her at her christening will hunt her down through the years, gathering strength, and at some point a princess must become a queen, even if she would rather just stay ordinary-

Reviews

  • A fairy tale, but also a long, leisurely, sophisticated narrative which makes no linguistic compromises. . . . Spindle's End's subject is magical perils, but as a novel it is an almost utopian love story. A curious and distinctive book

    Books for Keeps

  • A skilful retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. . . . This is electrifying story-telling, a must-read for fans of quality fantasy of any age

    Anne Marley, Financial Times

  • I would recommend very few of the novels written for teenagers that pass through my hands to a discerning adult reader. So this is a bit of a find. An extraordinarily imaginative retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, McKinley's book is genuinely enchanting but emotionally tough

    Guardian

  • Written with rich inventiveness, good characters and real stylistic skill and flair, it is a fat treat in which to lose yourself

    Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times

More from this Author

About the Author

Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley has won many awards, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword, and the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature for Sunshine. She lives in Hampshire, England with her husband, author Peter Dickinson, two hellhounds nicknamed Chaos and Darkness, an 1897 Steinway upright named Rhodanthe, and increasing numbers of rose bushes wedged into three tiny gardens. The view out her office window is her change-ringing bell tower and in the next village over is a paragon among horses whom Robin is so fortunate as to have permission to ride. Check out her blog at robinmckinleysblog.com.

Robin McKinley

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