"It's about time someone took the princess story that's normalized to girls and autopsy it with absolute precision. The Force of Such Beauty opens on the night of Caroline's second attempt at escaping Lucomo, the small European country in which she became a princess. But author Barbara Bourland quickly jumps back in time to reveal every excruciating and exhilarating detail that led to this moment....The Force of Such Beauty grips with the strength of an Olympian and holds it with the endurance of a marathoner. Bourland's passionate storytelling transmogrifies into an insatiable urge to keep reading Caroline's story even after its end - an ending that actually caught my breath, not once, but twice in quick succession."-Associated Press "This is not your grandma's fairy tale... Influenced by the struggles of real-life princesses, Bourland's brilliant satire skewers the theatrics of power, excessive materialism and economic corruption."-Washington Post "Sharp, witty, and intellectually intense, Bourland's prose is a force to be reckoned with." -The Chicago Review of Books "Falling in love with a prince is not a fairy tale, as the protagonist of this engrossing novel discovers. Caroline is a former Olympian-turned-princess of a small European country. Her role becomes more like a trap; her husband, more like a captor. Bourland said she was inspired by real-life royals when writing this novel set in pre-recession Europe."-Today.com "With trademark style and sophistication Bourland (I'll Eat When I'm Dead, 2017; Fake Like Me, 2019) plays with the tropes of the princess tales, true and not, that we know as well as our own names as she giftedly conjures Caroline's glittering, threatening worlds. Despite danger everywhere, Caroline is the captivating narrator of her own story: a domestic drama, sparkling fairy tale, cautionary tale, and suspenseful mystery all laced into one." -Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)

Barbara Bourland is the critically acclaimed author of I'll Eat When I'm Dead, a Refinery29 Best Book of 2017, a People Magazine Pick, and Irish Independent Book of the Year, and Fake Like Me, which received four starred reviews and was a HelloGiggles Best Book, a CrimeReads Best Crime Books of the Year, a Toronto Star Hot Summer Thriller Pick, a Refinery29 Best Book, a Cosmopolitan Must-Have, a Fortune Summer 2019 Travel Pick, and a 2020 Edgar Nominee for Best Novel. A former freelance writer and web producer at Conde Nast and Hearst, Bourland lives in Baltimore, MD.