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Biographical note
Angela Carter was born in 1940. One of Britain's most original and disturbing writers, she died in 1992.The boldest of English women writers
Her writing is pyrotechnic - fuelled with ideas, packed with images and spangling the night sky with her starry language
Observer
She can glide from ancient to modern, from darkness to luminosity, from depravity to comedy without any hint of strain and without losing the elusive power of the original tales
The Times
Beneath its contemporary surface, this novel shimmers with blurred echoes-from Lewis Carroll, from 'Giselle' and 'Coppelia,' Harlequin and Punch . . . It leaves behind it a flavor, pungent and unsettling
New York Times
'The boldest of English women writers' LORNA SAGE
'Her writing is pyrotechnic - fuelled with ideas, packed with images and spangling the night with her starry language' OBSERVER
'She can glide from ancient to modern, from darkness to luminosity, from depravity to comedy without any hint of strain and without losing the elusive power of the original tales' THE TIMES
'This crazy world whirled around her, men and women dwarfed by toys and puppets, where even the birds are mechanical and the few human figures went masked . . . She was in the night once again, and the doll was herself.'
One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother's wedding dress. The next morning her world is shattered. Forced to leave her rural home, she is sent to London to live with relatives she has never met: gentle Aunt Margaret, mute since her wedding day; and her brothers, Francie, whose graceful music belies his clumsy nature, and the volatile Finn. Brooding over all is Uncle Philip, who loves only the puppets he creates in his workshop, which are life-sized - and uncannily lifelike.
'She was, among other things, a quirky, original, and baroque stylist . . . her vocabulary a mix of finely tuned phrase, luscious adjective, witty aphorism, and hearty, up-theirs vulgarity' Margaret Atwood, Observer
'Angela Carter was a great writer . . . a real one-off, nothing like her on the planet' Salman Rushdie
'This crazy world whirled around her, men and women dwarfed by toys and puppets, where even the birds are mechanical and the few human figures went masked . . . She was in the night once again, and the doll was herself.'
One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother's wedding dress. The next morning, she learns of her parents' deaths and her world is shattered. She is sent to live with relatives she has never met: gentle Aunt Margaret, mute since her wedding day; and her brothers, Francie and Finn. Brooding over all is Uncle Philip, a toymaker who loves only his creations: clockwork roses and puppets that are life-size - and uncannily lifelike.