Once upon a time, a handsome prince rode to a thicket of thorns on his magnificent horse and woke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Books and movies tell Aurora’s story, but little is chronicled of the prince who reached her side just in time to save her from an endless sleep. His mission was no easy task.

Young Prince Sigismund lives in a castle in the country while his father battles their enemies in the south. Bored, the prince often climbs to the top of his home and stares across the silent Wood stretching to the west. He daydreams of adventure, of roaming outside the confining castle walls. He longs to enter the looming forest though to do so has been forbidden nearly 100 years, since the days of his great-grandfather. Some say witches and faie and other magical creatures dwell among the trees, that a castle exists deep within the gloom.

One day fantasy draws him to the castle gates where he meets the Margravine zu Malvolin. After their encounter, Sigismund dreams of a girl enclosed by thorns and other baffling mysteries. When the man in red armor from his nightmares arrives at the castle, Sigismund discovers the legends and stories that fed his reveries are true. He begins a lengthy and heroic quest to rescue the girl of his dreams trapped by the Margravine and her warped magic. If the prince and his companions don’t vanquish this evil fairy she will take over the human world.

Author Helen Lowe combines believable characters with the magic of fairy tale in a coming of age story. Prince Sigismund grows from a pining young boy to a man of destiny. This likeable hero and the princess he determines to save provide readers with a thread of romance, but the book abounds with adventure and battles. Readers already know the story ends happily ever after, but this version offers a fantastic and breathtaking journey to the castle in the woods and that magical, healing kiss.

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