The Beast’s Heart

Shallcross’s dense and discomfiting fantasy debut retells “Beauty and the Beast” from the perspective of the Beast: brooding 17th-century French nobleman Julien Courseilles, desperately lonely after centuries under a green-eyed fairy’s curse. Julien’s efforts to regain his humanity intensify after he spies honey-haired Isabeau de la Noue in her father’s dreams. Julien coerces her to his ensorcelled woodland chateau, and compassionate Isabeau agrees to stay one year. When Julien realizes marrying her could break the curse, he bombards her with proposals while secretly spying on her family to find the key to her heart before time is up. The original tale’s abusive subtext becomes unpleasant text in this version: men habitually call stalking “courtship,” women romanticize Isabeau’s abduction, and Isabeau—never developed past blond hair and compulsive caretaking—is desperately depressed. Julien’s occasional moments of self-awareness swiftly yield to selfishness and violence. What results is a skin-crawling, obsessive quest to manipulate love from a kidnapped woman. Shallcross’s lush imagery cannot redeem a plot mired in self-pitying, romanticized abuse. (Feb.)