Short Review of Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen's novel Briar Rose is based upon the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, specifically the one by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm called "Little Briar Rose." Yolen uses the fairy tale as a symbolic reference to the holocaust of WWII--the tale serves as a woman's only source for coping with the horrors that she experienced at an extermination camp in Poland, and she tells the story to her grandchildren year after year until her death. Even when the grandchildren are all adults, Gemma (the grandmother) continues to tell the story obsessively and fervently as if it really happened. On her deathbed, she pleads with her youngest granddaughter Becca to find the castle of the story, to which Becca promises to do. Gemma leaves a box of mysterious photographs and items which no one in the family had ever before seen and which helps Becca on her quest to discover her Grandmother's horrific past and, consequently, her own Jewish roots.

As historical fiction, this novel references real-life places and events that took place during WWII. The fictional characters give the reader a sense of what the holocaust was like for real people by humanizing the victims and survivors of the concentration camps. The story also highlights the other victims and prisoners of the holocaust including homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and gypsies. One of the central characters, in fact, is a gay man called Josef who tells his side of the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Amidst the hard-to-swallow moments of truth, a story of love unravels and leaves the reader with a sense of understanding and closure--but far from the gift-wrapped ending of the conventional fairy tale. The protagonist reconciles herself to her past and a disconnected generation, and with this reconciliation comes peace. Yolen does a beautiful job of connecting fairy tale to real-life horror by depicting the almost miraculous will to survive. Briar Rose is a tale of self-discovery, love, and beauty hidden beneath the images of hatred and brutality. An exceptional tale of complex themes and relevant topics, and I highly recommend it for mature teenagers and adults.