The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The corners and bottom of the book are covered in red vines. A red figure lies at the bottom of the book, above the authors name, on a red chaise lounge. A figure falls towards them, also red. Behind them, a large tower in the centre of the book, surrounded by smaller towers. All are black and pointed at the top. At the top of the tallest tower, a hand, with a finger pointing towards the tower and drop of red blood between the hand and the point. Text over the top of all of this reads, from top to bottom:
The title “A Spindle Splintered” in large white capitals across the top half of the cover.
A review directly below the title, lower left, in smaller white font, reading “”A vivid, subversive, and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty”-Katherine Arden”
The authors name “Alix E. Harrow” at the bottom of the book, in large white capitals. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Forced Marriage
• Recount of Rape
• References to Sexual Assault
• References to Suicide
• Self Inflicted Injury
• References to Rape Resulting in Pregnancy
• Blood
• Terminal Illness
• Hospitalisation, Medical Content, Medical Trauma
• Death
• Homophobia, Lesbophobia
• Drug and Alcohol Use

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Summary:

It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one.

Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

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Notes:

For more information on content warnings please see here.

This is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

There is an audiobook.

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Archivist Comments:

Maybe I’m just easily pleased but I’m a sucker for reimagined fairy tales (cough The Lunar Chronicles cough).

I don’t know much about this one but it’s got me curious. I like things where I can’t immediately figure out the plot from the summary or snippets alone, and I feel like this summary is just the right amount of vague.

Looked up what a chaise lounge was for this and I’m still not entirely convinced it’s right.

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