Rose DaughterReview posted October 10, 2026
Recorded Books, 2015. 12 hours, 47 minutes.
Review written September 11, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
I've been rereading (or listening to) Robin McKinley old favorites because they came up in my #Sonderbooks25 celebration of 25 years of writing Sonderbooks - when I also realized that there are several that I read before I started Sonderbooks, so they don't have a review.
Rose Daughter is Robin McKinley's second retelling of the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast." I like Beauty, the first retelling, a little better because it is shorter and has more of a fairy tale feel. But both versions are wonderful.
I do love that in both books, Beauty comes from a loving and happy family. Yes, Beauty's sisters pull her away from the Beast at a crucial time, but it's because of their great love for one another.
In Rose Daughter, Beauty is a gifted gardener. But she has never seen roses, which can only be grown by sorcery or love. So when there are thorny bushes all over the cottage deep in the woods that the family inherits from an unknown old woman, she doesn't recognize them until they burst into bloom.
The Beast also has a rose garden, but his garden is dying. When Beauty comes to stay in his palace, she gains a task to revive the roses, and she thinks that's the reason he brought her to his realm.
This book twists the ending a bit, similar to what happens in Spindle's End, but from start to finish you've got Robin McKinley's magic spinning a world where love makes roses bloom.