Sunlight in Winter — Tova Dian Dean

Ordinary Isabella has lived her entire life in a secluded village, a place so carefully situated they are ingeniously hidden from the strife, and diseases the rest of the medieval world suffers. After her best friend marries and leaves to live on the outside, Isabella is expected to marry next. Lonely Isabella is not ready to accept the man of her father's choosing and settle into the ordinary life of the village, a fate she cannot possibly escape. When she accidentally allows her father's valuable worker dogs to break free, she knows she must bring them back or receive a deserved punishment. While chasing after them she stumbles upon a mysterious bridge that connects the villages' mountainside with a castle situated across a steep ravine with a roaring river at the bottom. When she innocently crosses, she has no way of knowing that no other human has been able to cross the bridge in all of the years since the curse was set on the royal family, but the inhabitants of the magic castle know she is special. Eventually, she willingly leaves home to live with the cruelly enchanted king-- the frightening beast-- believing she was brought to him by divine providence. Though the Beast is hideous, and completely reserved, his disarming kindness slowly leads to a powerful connection between the two. Sunlight in Winter is written with humor and great compassion, the events the two endure will enchant all lovers of fairy tales, especially those who believe that the ending is just the beginning.