Beauty And The Beast is a story I’ve read many times over the years. Not only when I was a child, but also when my children were younger. I enjoyed revisiting such a much loved story. Not only did it bring back memories of the story itself, but also the questions I’ve always thought about every time I’ve read it. And like most books I’ve reread, it brought back memories from the other times I’ve read it.

Memories of when I was a child, curled up on my bed, slowly turning the pages as the words became colourful images within my mind. Of reading it several times to my children, snuggled on the couch together or stretched out on their bed as I told it to them before they went to sleep. Just like I had questions about the story, they asked questions too. Why did she ask for a rose? There were so many other things she could have asked for. How could her father let her go to the beast? Didn’t he care what might happen to her? And why didn’t she realise what it meant when she was told not to trust in what her eyes could see. What had she thought they were trying to tell her?

Fairytales Retold: Beauty And The Beast is now available on Amazon.