The Spindle is the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, retold from the dark fairy's point of view... Set in the Celtic world of the fifth century, the Faeries, elemental spirits charged with caring for the earth and all its inhabitants, are being forgotten and facing extinction. In a desperate bid for survival, sweet, sycophantic Violet, faerie of beauty, love and dreams, breaks the faerie law and gives the barren Queen a child, threatening to dismantle the future of human history. Her sister Nor, the faerie of death, who desires to be truly loved though she is shunned by all mankind, must right Violet's wrong and restore Princess Rose to her correct place in time before it's too late. Her plan is threatened by a prideful King desperate to maintain his power, the kind, poor gardener Arthur whose destiny is endangered by his deep love for the Princess he was never supposed to meet, and Princess Rose herself, an intelligent, passionate young woman fated to become one of the greatest rulers the land has ever known. Praise for Ashley Griffin "If storytelling... is a dying art, then (Griffin) is in the vanguard of its resuscitation... Griffin's work reflects the best elements of storytellers past and combines them in her own style (with) just enough detail for the imaginations of her audience to take over...I am predisposed to trust any (piece) under Griffin's auspices." - Paper Tiger Reviews "Within the subtext of Ashley Griffin's dark stories of struggle and survival is one of the most surprisingly cathartic voices about mortality and immortality." - Mike Rinaldi, What is Hip? "She transports us through eras, characters and story lines clearly and with ferocious grace...It is truly stunning what she can do with...nothing but the simplest...magic." - The Harlem Times