A Spindle Splintered

Alix E. Harrow

Oct 2021 · Fractured Fables Book 1 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Amy Landon

About this audiobook

"Amy Landon's lively narration unites present-day Ohio and Perceforest, a fairy-tale realm, in this immersive reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty universe." - AudioFile Magazine

USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story. Featuring Arthur Rackham's original illustrations for The Sleeping Beauty, fractured and reimagined.

“A vivid, subversive and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, where implacable destiny is no match for courage, sisterhood, stubbornness and a good working knowledge of fairy tales.” —Katherine Arden

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tordotcom

Ratings and reviews

This was an absolutely, fantastic story that manages to address multiple serious issues without weighing you down or making you feel sad. Inspiring and beautiful. It’s only 3 hours, so it’s a little difficult to say much without revealing anything. The narrator did a magnificent job of bringing the characters to life and making them easily identifiable. The unique take provided on the fairytale was original and one I was very surprised by.

A fun, upbeat book that's a an entertaining take on an old story. A Millennial/Gen-Z woman gets pulled into a fairytale and has to figure out how to save the damsel in distress and herself.

About the author

A former academic and adjunct, Alix E. Harrow is now a full-time writer living in Virginia with her husband and their semi-feral toddlers. In 2019 she won a Hugo Award for her short fiction and published her first novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January.