Belle is a lot of things: smart, resourceful, restless. She longs to escape her poor provincial town for good. She wants to explore the world, despite her father's reluctance to leave their little cottage in case Belle's mother returns -- a mother she barely remembers. Belle also happens to be the captive of a terrifying, angry beast. And that is her primary concern. But when Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, intriguing images flood her mind -- images of the mother she believed she would never see again. Stranger still, she sees that her mother is a beautiful Enchantress who cursed the Beast, his castle, and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle must work with the Beast to unravel a dark mystery about their families that was twenty-one years in the making. -- adapted from book jacket.