The title character of Robin McKinley's novelization of the classic fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" is something of a departure from the traditional interpretations, taking the story and combining the sense of a historical setting with a mystical tale.

The youngest of three daughters born to a now-widowed shipping merchant named Huston, Honour is the black sheep of the family. Where her sisters, Grace and Hope, are beautiful creatures with lovely manners and gentle tempers, Honour is awkward, uncomfortable with company, and prefers to spend her time reading and visiting the stables. When as a young child she asked her father for an explanation of their names, he managed well with "Grace" and "Hope" but got stuck on trying to explain "Honour" to a five-year-old. Disgusted with what she felt was an unappealing name, the child declared that she "would rather be called Beauty".

The childish nickname stuck, and as she grew older, Beauty became too accustomed to the irony of her new name, and was too proud, to ask for it to be discarded. A gawky teen with mousy hair, muddy eyes and little interest in "society", Beauty believed that she would never live up to the model of female perfection embodied by her older sisters. Instead, she was allowed to indulge a keen interest in scholarship, learning history and languages and gaining the admiration of her family for her intellect. She also had a way of understanding the moods and needs of her father and sisters, so that the "ugly duckling" of the family became the rock that they all lean on when disaster struck.

( Spoilers ahead, albeit probably unimportant ones )

Beauty has left her home, with her horse Greatheart, to go and live at the Beast's castle, but out of sympathy a small alteration has been made. First, she will be given the opportunity to acquire a real education at a real school. And so, although she'll received occasional correspondence from him, Beauty has not yet met the Beast.

She possesses no unusual powers or abilities, but Beauty has a lively curiosity and comes to the school with a strong classical education from her childhood tutors. She's a little shy and feels awkward in social situations, seeing herself as plain and unappealing (although at the age of sixteen, she's finally beginning to grow out of the awkward mousiness of her youth).

Characters with a sensitivity to magic might notice the ring Beauty wears. It doesn't have any powers that she's aware of, but it does radiate a strong sense of magic.

Also, Beauty has been accompanied to Fandom by her horse, Greatheart. He's a huge gray, stands about 18 hands, and resembles a Percheron.