"Anyone who has ever fallen in love will know that when the realisation strikes - that you love that person above all others and want to spend the rest of your days by their side - this is accompanied by an urge to run and shout it from the mountaintops."
from The Beast's Heart
If you have been reading my work for a while, you will probably be aware that I adore fairytales and in recent years there has been a publishing trend for classic fairytales being retold as full length novels. This, The Beast's Heart, is a novel of Beauty and the Beast, but it is told entirely from the Beast's perspective. It is a very beautiful book, gilded all over with golden leaves on the covers, so it makes a very pretty addition to my ever growing collection of fairytale hardbacks and collector's editions.
The novel begins right after the curse has been cast, when the Beast finds himself wandering in the forest, confused, grieving and all alone. He lives like an animal for some time, but then his true nature begins to take over, leading him back to his beloved chateau on the edge of the woods. There he struggles to regain what is left of his humanity, in a house that has been enchanted to provide for his every want and need. He has everything he could wish for - except companionship.
So when a lost traveller happens across his chateau one freezing, snowy night, the Beast takes the opportunity to demand payment for his hospitality in the form of the traveller's daughter. And so begins the familiar tale we all know from childhood. When Isabeau arrives, the Beast does his best to woo her, asking her repeatedly to marry him, but although she is growing increasingly fond of the Beast, although she loves him in her heart; due to his circumstances, she always refuses him.
They spend their days getting to know one another gradually. She plays piano and sings for him; he reads romance and poetry to her.
The Beast has a magic mirror which he uses to keep an eye on Isabeau's family while she is absent. He spends hours just watching them, learning what he can about her family-life and upbringing.
In this respect the magic mirror reminds me of the Internet, where we can see the daily activities of loved ones who are often miles away, sometimes right across the globe. How easy it is to become mesmerised by the visions of those we love, within the magic mirror of the screen; haunted by images of those we know, yet never see; of those we love, but who have left, for whatever reason.
As the Beast watches Isabeau's father succumb to depression and then illness, he relents and allows her to go home for one week, but when she fails to return at the appointed time, he falls into a deep despair and fears that she is lost to him for good. All he wants, is to know that she will come back to him, as soon as she is able to do so and that she hasn't forsaken him and left him for good. All he needs is that reassurance - just a seed of hope that she will return to him eventually and that they will go on as they did before.
When that reassurance doesn't come in time, the Beast wilts into the deep pain of loss, finding himself collapsed on the ground and alone in the woods once more. Will his Beauty come back in time to save him? You'll have to read the novel to find out.
Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite fairytales and I have read other novel versions of this story, which you can read about here. I like the way it portrays unconditional love and how Beauty has to become comfortable with the Beast, in all his moods and tantrums, before she can settle down with the Prince, once the curse is broken. The Beast's Heart is a lovely rendition of this classic tale and I hope that the author is going to write more fairytale novels in the future, because I enjoyed this one immensely.
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