Author Biography

Elizabeth Lowham dreams of a future house that is seventy-percent library with at least three lavish window seats. Her reality is five bookshelves and a rocking chair, which isn't so bad. Apart from reading and writing, her hobbies include sewing, sketching, dancing, eating, and other -ing verbs. Plus yoga. She has a bachelor of arts in English and works as an author, editor, and screenwriter. She is a sexual abuse survivor who believes stories have a unique power to lift and heal for author and reader alike. She lives with her husband and son in the Loveland area of Colorado.

Review

"A darker and bittersweet retelling of the familiar fairytale, laden with an equal dose of humor and tragedy. Their relationship felt very sweet and pure, grounded more in simplicity and faith rather than in the fiery passion Beauty indulged in with her prior suitor. I liked that it portrayed a kind of "growing up" on her part, as she moved away from the excitement and thrill of her dangerous lover and delved into a softer, truer type of love with the Beast. The language of this story was really rather wonderful... the author writes with a lyricism that drew me right in. There is heavy content, but the author handled it very delicately, and the actual traumatic scene was much more implicit than explicit, and the effects were mostly made manifest in Beauty's emotional state."-- "Compass Book Ratings"
"Lowham adeptly wrangles classic elements of 'Beauty and the Beast' to craft a sensitive and slow-burning retelling that tackles issues of sexual violence. Intellectual Beauty, who is still coping with having been sexually assaulted by her former suitor, a lord baron's heir, secretly hopes the Beast will devour her, as she "would rather die" than have to face the suitor again. Instead, the magical, inexplicably empty estate provides an environment in which she and the Beast slowly develop a rapport through reading and philosophy. Beauty finds solace in the castle, and the distance from her family helps her reevaluate her complex relationships with them. Via intense flashbacks to Beauty's life before living with the Beast, Lowham addresses Beauty's harrowing history. While this lavish version of the original tale is comfortingly familiar, the creator's narrative stands out in its portrayal of themes surrounding trauma and recovery alongside familiar musings on perceived differences between humans and monsters."-- "Publishers Weekly"
"This retelling of 'Beauty and the Beast' adds a #MeToo backstory. Suspense-building flashbacks. Soul-searching, cautionary realism. Beauty herself is an intriguing, well-crafted original, her story building on the tale's perennial theme of consent: She goes willingly to a Beast who does not force her into marriage though his life and humanity depend on it. In that respect, this iteration does not disappoint. Readers who appreciate narrative risk-taking are well served."-- "Kirkus"

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