Whose Beauty is Past Change

Whose Beauty is Past Change

by Stephen Evans

Publisher
Time Being Media, LLC
Publication
Sep 29, 2025
Format
Paperback/Softback
Edition
2
Illustrated
No
Price
$9.99
Dimensions
5 x 8 in
ISBN
978-1-953725-60-8
ASIN
B0CWCXQ4BG
Pages
132
Age
10 - 12 years
Category
FantasyMiddle Grade Fiction

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

An "engaging modern-day fairy tale." -Kirkus Reviews

At sunset in Key West, twelve-year-old Lissa falls into the gulf of Mexico and is swept out along a golden path. Using her knowledge of art and poetry (learned from her parents), she navigates past the beautiful entanglements and curious guardians of the reef.

Finally she arrives in the realm of Kwest, where all are devoted to creating each sunrise and sunset. There, after proving herself, Lissa is offered a choice: to return to her old life or stay and become a painter of sunsets.

Poets quoted in the book include E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Blake, Wallace Stevens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and John Keats.

The book is dedicated to the author's mother, who read to him as a child, and is intended to provide a story that will challenge young readers and inspire young artists.

For advanced middle-grade and YA readers.

Publishers Note: This book was previously published under the title Painting Sunsets.

Keywords: gift book for advanced readers; fantasy books on Mermaids; Mermaids; books like The Wizard of Oz; middle grade fantasy; fiction; fantasy; YA fantasy; gift for young artist; gift book for a young poet; young writer; books for advanced children; advanced readers; children; art; beauty; poetry; poets; imagination; fables; key west; coral; reef; sea; Gulf of Mexico; Florida; Florida Keys; ocean; undersea; adventure; quest; sunset; sunrise; luminous


Awards & Endorsements

“Stephen Evans imaginative young adult fantasy invents a vivid, perpetually lit world that abounds in swirls of luminescence and kaleidoscopic color. Above all, Evans’s elegant prose emphasizes the aesthetic value of art and the act of creation. Painting Sunsets’s fantasy elements are spot on, and the novel’s coming-­of-­age narrative will be equally engaging to YA readers.”

Kirkus Reviews
An “engaging modern-day fairy tale.”
Foreword Clarion Reviews
Aiming to inspire young artists, this fantasy story hits its mark, conveying that art is essential to everyday life and that beauty is everywhere for those who take the time to look at the sunset and listen for the artistry that can be unleashed by the written word.

Author(s)

Stephen Evans

Stephen Evans

Stephen Evans is a playwright and author of fiction, nonfiction, plays and verse. His books include The Marriage of True Minds, Whose Beauty is Past Change, and Funny Thing Is: A Guide to Understanding Comedy.

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