Taunted by fate, Aurore soon learns that although she cannot sidestep her own destiny, love itself is actually the most powerful magic of all. This is the story of the Sleeping Beauty, here quite awake and given new voice. Then one day she meets a handsome stranger in an enchanted wood and begins an adventure the likes of which she never dreamed of.

Forbidden princesslike tasks of embroidery and sewing, she explores the great outdoors, reveling in the flora and fauna that surround her castle home. A sleep of a hundred years following the pricking of a finger is the best that can be done. Those who can, intervene, but evil has a way of holding fast. They use her christening as an occasion for revenge, and her young life is overshadowed by a curse of death almost as soon as it has begun. When Aurore arrives, though the entire kingdom celebrates, not all are overjoyed. For years the king and queen despaired of ever having a child. Traitors among the atomic scientists-there’s reason to hope the intrepid Justine and Georgette will soon reappear in New Mexico.'LITTLE PRINCESS, LOVELY AS THE DAWN, WELL-NAMED AURORE.' With these seemingly innocent words, the fate of a newborn princess is sealed. She is the author of a previous series, the Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mysteries, so when this novel ends with a tantalizing reference to Los Alamos-where there really were

Evans is also a polished and prolific mystery writer, so the pace is breakneck (the last German offensive of the war, the Battle of the Bulge, began on December 16, 1944), the plot is satisfyingly twisty, and the gadgets get to play their parts. This was an absolutely charming retelling of Sleeping Beauty that should delight young adult readers and adults everywhere. It’s great fun to learn that the eight most common letters in English can be arranged into a handy anagram: ETON AIRS. Luckily (if a bit unconvincingly) they manage to fool the enemy, and their handsome trainers have armed them with an array of protective gadgets that would delight James Bond if he’d been invented yet.Įvans, trained as a scientist and engineer, wields her historical and technical information with skill. Justine and Georgette are novice secret agents. Justine and her fellow-agent and roommate, Georgette, must race against time as well as against the wiles of brilliant minds recruited to decipher the encrypted messages coming in from Europe.

This is a captivating, well-researched novel of World War II espionage, built around a brainy and attractive protagonist. 4.5 6 Ratings 6.99 6.99 Publisher Description 'ONCE UPON A TIME' IS TIMELESS The Princess Aurore has had an unusual childhood. Justine Byrne’s assignment is to go undercover among the cryptographers and find the spy who’s passing information to the enemy. A traitor lurks among the cryptographers in Arlington Hall, who are working to break Axis codes and help win World War II in Europe, still unsettled even after D-Day.

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey