Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
"Briar Rose" is a novel that reimagines the classic fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" within the context of a young Jewish woman's journey to uncover her grandmother's mysterious past. The protagonist, Becca Berlin, grows up listening to her grandmother Gemma's bedtime stories, which are later revealed to be rooted in Gemma's own history as a Holocaust survivor. Following Gemma's death, Becca discovers a box of mementos that leads her to question her grandmother's immigration story and identity, particularly the name Gitl Rose Mandlestein linked to her.
As Becca investigates, she collaborates with her editor, Stan, and visits a former refugee camp that now serves as a museum. Interviews with survivors reveal a connection to Chełmno, a concentration camp where Gemma was held. Becca travels to Poland, where she encounters townspeople who are hesitant to share their history. However, she eventually meets Josef Potocki, a member of the Polish Resistance, who provides crucial insights into Gemma's survival and the love story intertwined with her harrowing past. This journey not only uncovers family secrets but also explores themes of memory, identity, and resilience against the backdrop of historical trauma.
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Subject Terms
Briar Rose
First published: 1992
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
Time of work: Primarily the 1990’s, with flashbacks to World War II
Locale: Boston, Massachusetts; and Warsaw, Poland
The Plot
Briar Rose is one of the Fairy Tale Series created for Ace, then later published by Tor. Briar Rose is a later book in the series. Each novel in the collection is by a different author and is a twentieth century story based on a traditional fairy tale.
In this case, the basis is “Sleeping Beauty.” The heroine of Briar Rose is Becca Berlin, a young Jewish woman who grew up hearing her grandmother (nicknamed Gemma) tell the tale. Shortly before Gemma dies, she tells Becca that the familiar bedtime story is no fantasy: The old woman was the princess who woke to a prince’s kiss. Gemma begs Becca to find the castle where it happened, and her granddaughter promises to do so.
Gemma’s background is a mystery even to her family. All Becca has to guide her is a box of Gemma’s mementos, discovered only after the grandmother’s death, and the fact that Gemma immigrated to America in 1944. Even the immigration papers turn out to be nearly useless, however; many of the questions on them are unanswered, and Becca is not sure the papers are her grandmother’s. She deciphers them and learns that they belong to Gitl Rose Mandlestein, who was married and pregnant. Gitl’s physical description fits Gemma, but the only nickname listed is Ksiniczka. Becca is stunned when she learns that the name is Polish for “princess.” The date of Gitl’s marriage and her home village and district in Poland are not provided.
Becca takes her research with her to her job at a local newspaper. Stan, her editor and close friend, is intrigued by the mystery and decides to help Becca. They visit Fort Oswego, New York, once a refugee camp for Jews and now a museum. Becca interviews several former refugees and finds one who recognizes Gemma’s photo and says he was in a concentration camp in Chełmno, Poland, with her. Becca is startled to learn that it was an old castle renovated by the Nazis. The interviewee’s mention of barbed wire reminds Becca of the thorns surrounding the castle in Gemma’s fairy tale. Hoping to learn more, Becca goes to Poland to locate Chełmno. Her grandmother may have been held there, but no woman is known to have survived the camp.
Once in Poland, Becca finds the village of Chełmno, but the townspeople are withdrawn and uncooperative. Finally, a priest leads Becca to Josef Potocki, who had been a member of the Polish Resistance during the war and knows about Chełmno. The kindly old man recognizes Gemma at once and reveals his partisan codename: Potocki means “prince.” His work in the resistance involved spying on vans leaving Chełmno and counting the corpses dumped in the nearby woods. One day, he and a fellow spy called Avenger found Gemma barely alive at a dump site. She had survived the gas chambers. Avenger administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, reviving the girl, and took her to the partisans’ forest hideout. The two fell in love and were married, but during the next mission, Avenger was shot dead. He had told his bride his real name, Aron Mandlestein. After a close call with the Nazis, Josef and Gemma were separated. Josef never knew whether or not his princess had reached safety. Now, after meeting her granddaughter, he knows that Gemma did, and Becca has discovered her heritage.