61 pages • 2 hours read
Brigid KemmererA Curse So Dark and Lonely
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: Beauty and the Beast
A Curse So Dark and Lonely takes inspiration from the story of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty and the Beast was originally published by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot De Villenueve in 1540 as a novel focusing on the injustice of society toward women and the expectation that a woman would submit to her husband in all situations. Sixteen years later, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, a governess in a wealthy British household, abridged the story and published it in a magazine geared toward young ladies, removing commentary on how society treated women and instead making it a tale of how a girl’s place is to obey her husband. The tale has had many versions since then, two of the most popular being the Disney films of 1991 (animated) and 2016 (live action). While the Disney movies mostly shy away from commentary about women and society, both praise Belle (the beauty) for her independence and intelligence. Throughout most forms of the story, the beast’s arc from arrogant to compassionate remains.
Kemmerer both stays true to the original tale and subverts it with Rhen and Harper (the beast and beauty, respectively). As the prince/beast, Rhen has the tragic flaws of arrogance and self-loathing, which in the tale are often portrayed, either together or separately, as the traits that got the beast cursed in the first place. Harper is a subversion of the beauty character. In early versions of the tale, beauty is quiet and proper. While the Disney movies give her a fighting spirit and strong desire to right wrongs, they also stay true to this portrayal. Harper is not quiet and proper. She has a keen sense of what is right, and she does not mind bucking social norms or speaking crudely if it may help her help others or defend herself. Harper also complicates the question of what is beautiful. Having been born with cerebral palsy, which affects her left leg most prominently, Harper walks with an obvious limp. After an encounter with Lilith goes poorly, Harper also walks away with a scar on her face. Harper does not let these outer features of herself define her or keep her from being confident and bold, traits that Rhen comes to perceive as more beautiful than anything traditional beauty—like Lilith’s—could offer.
Series Context: The Cursebreakers Series
A Curse So Dark and Lonely is the first installment in Kemmerer’s Cursebreakers series, published three years in succession by Bloomsbury YA. The second book, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, picks up shortly after the end of the first book and continues the revelations made by Grey in the Epilogue. Following the breaking of the curse and the beating back of the enemy army, the rumors the enchantress set in motion about Rhen’s claim to the throne have begun to spread among the people, bringing unrest and uncertainty to Emberfall. The threat from the northwest increases, but the nation’s princess does not agree with the queen’s conquest and sets out to find Grey to set things right. Grey and the princess become the new main point-of-view characters, complemented by chapters that check in with Harper and Rhen, and magic again poses a threat. In the final installment, A Vow So Bold and Deadly, Rhen and Grey are at odds, divided by the loyalties of Emberfall’s people. The queen of the northwest nation has been vanquished, and her daughter struggles to rule, introducing additional tension as Rhen and Grey prepare to fight for the throne.
While A Curse So Dark and Lonely is influenced by Beauty and the Beast, the subsequent novels are not based on any specific fairy tale. In this way, the series shifts genres from fairy-tale retelling to general epic fantasy, which is somewhat common in fantasy. The first book offers readers something familiar with a story that many people know but is also fresh with twists and turns. Once readers are interested, the story then goes in its own direction to focus on the political intrigue, magic, and other unique aspects of the story world. After the first book, Harper and Rhen are freed from any constraints put upon their characters by adherence to the Beauty and the Beast story. Altogether, the series shows how a story may be explored in a new light and then given a context, plot, and outcome that’s far removed from its original version.
