Waking Beauty by Paul Witcover (Hardbound)

Format: Hardbound, 1997 edition

Condition: vg- condition, minor shelf wear, some storage wear (edge spotting)

Status: Out-of-Print and hard-to-find, 1st edition, 1st printing

"Ignore the fact that the cover of this book implies some creepy bondage thing. Ignore the synopsis written on the back, obviously penned by a person who's never read it. Instead listen to me. This book is excellent. It's the story of a world that turns upon the strict ordering of its society, adhering to a religion founded centuries ago; a religion that elevates men and supresses women, that reveres fireflies and fears Beauty. A strict caste system exists allowing the few to rise but only at the expense of another. Underneath the cities of this world the heretics hide, plotting a revolt and awaiting the second coming of their saviour, said to already walk their earth. We watch this drama unfold by following the travails of a country boy, his country wife who is thrust into the big city, and the girl he was once promised to marry who was exiled to a Cat house long ago." - from an Amazon.com reviewer

And from another reviewer:

This book is truly astonishing. Paul Witcover has taken our everyday world, distilled it down to its very essence, and disguised it as the Hierarchate. The book is one immense parable. It covers the cruelty, sexism and unmitigated power of the Christian Church, interweaving Christian mythology with well-known fairy tales and pagan folklore. The symbology in this book is overwhelming - on every page there is something that makes me stop and grab my copy of "The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" by Barbara G. Walker (which I highly recommend you read before, during or after "Waking Beauty" if you want to fully appreciate its vast multiple layers; also, a Latin dictionary is useful for uncovering the hidden symbology in the names of the saints). This book is far deeper than it appears on the surface to the idle reader...it is not mere fantasy, it is a living, breathing, scathing commentary on the structure of the world we are forced to live in; and this author is a man I would love to meet and talk to over a long, delicious lunch! Blessed Be.