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Synopsis to... The Beauty Trilogy
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Inspired by the myth of Sleeping Beauty, a favorite of her daughter's, Anne wrote a novel about dominance and submission. Beauty has been asleep for a hundred years. Many princes and suitors have tried to climb her castle walls, but all have been killed by poisonous thorns. One prince makes it through by cutting the plants at the roots and gives Beauty a kiss. The prince claims Beauty as his, and she becomes his slave. The novel explores the psychological process of surrender and the ways that the seemingly helpless claim and exercise power.
Beauty's Punishment
The second novel begins where the first ended: with Beauty's deliberate disobedience to ensure even harsher punishment. Beauty and her companion, Prince Tristan, are auctioned to different masters, and each becomes a favorite. Tristan and his new master, Nicolas, allow love to enter their relationship, changing it in ways Tristan never anticipated. But changes in power relationships are ever present, and the village is sacked, with Tristan and Beauty taken away as spoils. On the way to a sultan's palace, Beauty is drawn to another slave, Laurent. They wait aboard ship, having been told that they will no longer be treated as thinking beings, but merely as parcels, the smell of adventure on the wind.
Beauty's Release
The trilogy ends in a new land, where the slaves have been brought to new depths of punishment and isolation. Beauty is horrified to discover that the sultan's wives have all been sexually mutilated. She sets about helping one of them learn what pleasure is. Laurent becomes the secret master to the sultan's steward in charge of the slaves. Laurent and Tristan find themselves tested in competition to please the sultan, who is no longer just a master, but a true sovereign. The characters are rescued and returned to their homeland, and Beauty returns to her parents. Beauty is unable and unwilling to adjust to no longer being a slave. She rejects all suitors and yearns for one of the slaves who will understand. She is rescued from misery by Laurent, who has become the master of his family castle and who commands Beauty to become his wife and secret slave. They live happily ever after.
