9 h 41 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 41 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if love reveals the person that appearances keep hidden?
In Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home, Bayard Taylor brings a traveler's eye to familiar ground. Love, marriage and family pressure shape these short stories, while character reveals itself over time. The title story draws on an old fairy-tale pattern to explore appearances and the expectations people place on one another.
Alongside Beauty and the Beast, the collection includes Twin-Love, Can a Life Hide Itself and Jacob Flint's Journey. Taylor looks at life at home with the curiosity of someone used to looking beyond it. American and European manners sit side by side, inviting you to notice what seems natural—and what seems odd.
What you’ll discover
- Beyond first appearances Explore how love can change the way one person sees another.
- The pressures of home Find stories where marriage and family expectations put personal character under close scrutiny.
- A traveler's curious eye See familiar manners from the outside as Taylor sets America beside Europe.
- Humor without hurry Enjoy observant, slightly amused narrators who leave room to notice human behavior.
- Character revealed over time Settle into calm stories that trace how people show who they are.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy short stories steeped in place, gentle humor, old-fashioned romance and unfolding secrets will love this collection. It suits those drawn to quiet portraits of Quakers, farmers, dreamers and rulers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Power makes everyone watch the prince
- Love brings Boris home without protection
- A disguise begins to shape a family
- Hidden papers preserve a human life
- Brotherly unity meets the claims of love
- Arcadia puts beautiful beliefs to work
- Shared flowers reveal a religious divide
- A fair principle enters practical politics
- Private identity presses against public expectations
Who’s who
- Prince AlexisThe rich, violent ruler of Kinesma who owns ten thousand serfs and wants to be obeyed, feared and, in his odd way, loved.
- HelenaA music teacher's daughter who marries Prince Boris and tries to make peace with his terrifying father.
- Henry DonnellyA tall newcomer to a Quaker township who speaks beautifully and keeps his past carefully locked away.
- Jacob FlintA bullied farmer's son who leaves home to find the courage and respect his neighbors never gave him.
- David and JonathanTwin brothers who share every thought and must learn what it means to live as two when love enters their lives.
- Enos BillingsA shy young man who joins an Arcadian summer experiment mostly to be near Eunice, the woman he loves.
- Asenath MitchenorA calm Quaker daughter who teaches botany to a frail visitor and falls in love against her father's wishes.
- Jane StrongitharmA proud, funny reformer from the state of Atlantic who reports on what women's votes really changed.
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- Large print hardcover
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Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home
by Bayard Taylor · 1872
A whip-wielding prince on the Volga waits for the son who married without his leave, then American tales follow.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Picture a prince who raises a red flag over his castle so that a whole town must fall silent while he naps. Anyone who breaks the silence might be whipped, or might be paid ten rubles for a fine voice.
Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 40 min4 h 30 min fast, 6 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 80,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1872by Bayard Taylor
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A prince rules his town by whip and flag
Prince Alexis of Kinesma owns the bodies of ten thousand serfs on the Volga. A huge red sleep flag on the castle tells the whole town to stop every noise while the prince naps. Nobody argues with any of it.
One afternoon the prince spots a merchant who slipped away from his dinner. He chases the man through the bazaar with a whip until the merchant wades chin-deep into an icy pond and will not come out. The prince follows and swears on the saints that he will do no harm. Soon the two walk back up the street as friends.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1872
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Taylor, Bayard. Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/beauty-and-the-beast-and-tales-of-home.
Taylor, B. (2026). Beauty and the Beast, and tales of home. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beauty-and-the-beast-and-tales-of-home (Original work published 1872)
Taylor, Bayard. Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beauty-and-the-beast-and-tales-of-home.
@book{taylor2026beauty,
author = {Taylor, Bayard},
title = {Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beauty-and-the-beast-and-tales-of-home},
note = {First published 1872}
}
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What is Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home about?
It is a collection of nine stories by Bayard Taylor. The first retells a Russian beauty and the beast tale in the days of Empress Elizabeth. The others follow Quakers, farmers, twins, dreamers and reformers in nineteenth-century America, each facing love, secrets or identity.
Who is the Beast in the title story?
The Beast is Prince Alexis of Kinesma, a rich, fearsome ruler who owns ten thousand serfs and rules them by whip and temper. The Beauty is Helena, the music teacher's daughter who marries his son Boris.
What does A. C. stand for in The Experiences of the A. C.?
A. C. stands for the Arcadian Club, a group of friends in Norridgeport who rent a summer house on Long Island Sound. They hope to live in harmony with nature and speak with total candor, and they agree to use only the initials.
The author
Bayard Taylor
1825–1878 · American poet and travel writer
Bayard Taylor was an American poet, novelist, and travel writer. He was born in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, in 1825. He published Views Afoot in 1846 and Northern Travel in 1857. He lived in the United States and served as a diplomat in Germany, where he died in Berlin in 1878.
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