Enchantment by Orson Scott Card

Weaving Russian folklore with a modern day prince, Card writes a unique look at the sleeping beauty tale.  Ivan is ten years old when he finds a sleeping princess in a meadow in Communist Russia.  The image stays with him as he and his family flee to the United States.  Years later, Ivan returns to what is now Ukraine and finds the princess again.  She is not only sleeping under an enchantment, but she is from 900 A.D.  Coincidentally, Ivan can speak with her since he has studied her language all his life and is currently writing his dissertation on the language.  That and some other instances in the book highlight and enforce the one man meant for one woman scenario found in the Perrault version.  There was a lot of magic used in the fight against Baba Yaga who in this instance was the entity who placed the sleeping curse on the princess.  Fate also played a big role as certain things happened that could only be attributed to something outside of the character’s actions.  This would make a great study on Russian folklore and to examine closely what elements make a sleeping beauty story.