She consults Stan, a good friend and journalist who works for an 'alternative' newspaper and uncovers historical facts. After her grandmother's death, Rebecca Berlin, the youngest of her three granddaughters (referred to as Becca in the novel) begins to believe that there is some meaning behind the bedtime story that her grandmother told to them hundreds of times.

In the present day, Gemma's Jewish family is living somewhere outside a city in Massachusetts. The times when 'Gemma' tells the story are flashbacks and alternate between the present-day story. She tells this to the children almost all the time and it is the only bedtime story she ever tells. The story is based around the German fairy tale of Briar Rose ( Sleeping Beauty) which is told by 'Gemma', an elderly woman, to her three granddaughters. The ending is part of the 'home' section, returning after the castle. The book is divided into two parts, the 'home', and the 'castle'.

It was also nominated for the Nebula Award. The novel won the annual Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 1993. Incorporating elements of Sleeping Beauty, it was published as part of the Fairy Tale Series of novels compiled by Terri Windling. The Washington Post called Briar Rose ``a terrifically moving story.Briar Rose is a young adult novel written by American author Jane Yolen, published in 1992. Yolen confronts the deeply tragic events of the Holocaust with lyrical prose and rich characterizations that tell a tale of good and evil, hope and despair. Yolen's graceful retelling of the German folktale of ``Briar Rose``-known to some as ``Sleeping Beauty``-sets the story amid forests patrolled by the German army during World War II. Her vow sends Becca on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth of Gemma's astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose. Becca would have sworn the stories were made up, but on her deathbed Gemma extracts from Becca a promise to fulfill three impossible requests: find the castle, find the prince, and find the spell-maker. And in that place of death, Briar Rose is plunged into a deep sleep.Įver since she was a child, Rebecca has been enchanted by her grandmother Gemma's stories of Briar Rose. Corrupted by dark deeds and choked by a poisonous mist, the castle will soon come to be known as Chelmno extermination camp. In the heat of midsummer 1942, deep in a forest in the heart of Poland, Briar Rose arrives at a castle that has fallen into the hands of an evil army. Briar Rose is a historically sensitive retelling of Sleeping Beauty set amid forests patrolled by the German army during World War II.

Briar rose holocaust