The Fairest Beauty is written by Melanie Dickerson. It was published in 2012 by Zondervan. Dickerson’s website can be found here.
Summary/Blurb:
“Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother’s jealousy and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie’s one chance at freedom—but can she trust another person to keep her safe?
Gabe defied his parents, Rose and Wilhelm, by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry; the girl’s inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible—she is his brother’s future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else—he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what.
When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help—but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them—they must also protect their hearts.”
What I Liked:
This is a fairy tale retelling (Snow White) set in 1400s Germany with Christian overtones, and it is actually pretty decent, for the most part. I really enjoyed Dickerson’s “modernization” (medieval-ization?) of the seven dwarves, and overall the fairy tale of Snow White is easy to see, and yet distinct from its origins. Dickerson handled both the fairy tale and the setting very well, with emphasis on the penchant of royalty to be betrothed while they are young, the impropriety of a man and a woman being alone together, and the frequency of monasteries and places like the Cottage of the Seven for travelers to rest.
While I didn’t much like Sophie, I did like what her character insinuated. I thought it was nicely tied with the Christian themes, overall.
I really wanted to like this book, especially because of the Christian themes, but I just couldn’t. Sophie is way too perfect; her reaction to finding out Gabe is betrothed is not jealousy or hurt, but instead an “Oh, good, he deserves to be happy” moment. She perfectly understands other people’s motivations and is perfectly understanding to their actions. Neither she nor Gabe have any obvious flaws, and although Gabe mentions that he has changed since meeting Sophie, there wasn’t enough background given to really get a good sense of character development.
The romance is obvious, cliché, and mediocre, and it takes up way too much of the story. In fact, I think it sort of prevents Dickerson from really making her retelling of Snow White shine. I was happy, even impressed, with the retelling up until the duchess comes to the cottage, and then I felt that Dickerson sets aside the fairy tale to show us more symbolism and perpetuate the romance angst between Gabe and Sophie, even though it’s not necessary because you know from the beginning of the book that there is no way they aren’t getting together. I mean, I liked the symbolism, but it was a bit heavy-handed, and it’s at that point where Dickerson completely departs from the source material.
Rating: 2/5
Recommended Age Range: 14+
Warnings: None.
Genre: Christian, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Young Adult
Passages/Quotes:
“I don’t even know if you are the duke’s daughter. If you are, then I’m here to help you. If you don’t believe me…” He let his voice trail off.
“If I did believe you—which would be the height of foolishness—can you explain how you plan to get away from the duchess without her killing us both?” The awful truth was Sophie desperately wanted to believe him. To be wanted, to belong to someone, to be betrothed…it filled her chest with the most delightful warmth and light.
And to be proven a fool will only lead to coldness and pain.
~Dickerson 59
Glancing around at the dust and cobwebs in every nook and corner, the house didn’t look like it had had a good cleaning in months. Perhaps I can help the men with a few things before I leave.
They started their meal in silence, as if the men were afraid of disturbing her. They all had good manners, much better than the servants Sophie was used to eating with.
~Dickerson 177-178
Overall Review:
I was impressed with the Snow White retelling of The Fairest Beauty until the mediocre, typical romance and the perfectness of Sophie became too much for me. I did like the Cottage of the Seven and the setting, and I think I will try to read one more of Dickerson’s fairy tales simply because I liked her take on Snow White, up to a certain point, and want to see what she does with some others.
You can buy this here: The Fairest Beauty
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