Most Popular Books by Angela CARTER

"An electrifying intellectual autobiography, with all the narrative expanse, drama, outrage, and high comedy of the author’s fiction. Angela Carter is revealed here, anew, as one of the most important thinkers of twentieth-century world literature—and one of its most pungent voices.”—Rick Moody One of contemporary literature’s most original and affecting fiction writers, Angela Carter also wrote brilliant nonfiction. Shaking a Leg comprises the best of her essays and criticism, much of it collected for the first time. Carter’s acute observations are spiked with her piercing matter-of-factness, her devastating wit, her penchant for mockery, and her passion for the absurd. Whether discussing films or food, feminism or fantasy, science fiction or sex, Carter consistently explores new territories and overturns old ideas. No cultural icon escapes her scrutiny; as in her fiction, Carter offers glorious evidence of the transforming power of the imagination. From delightfully wicked commentaries on Gone with the Wind, a Japanese fertility festival, and fellow writers, including Lawrence, Lovecraft, Borges, and Burroughs, to enchanting personal essays, Carter shares her thoughts and herself with glee. “What a wonderful collection—sharp, funny, too decent for sarcasm but great wit and humanity, an unusual combination. But it makes us miss her, miss laughing with her, that real, intelligent, tough writing woman.”—Grace Paley

In Brixton, Nora and Dora Chance – twin chorus girls born and bred south of the river – are celebrating their 75th birthday. Over the river in Chelsea, their father and greatest actor of his generation Melchior Hazard turns 100 on the same day. As does his twin brother Peregrine. If, in fact, he''s still alive. And if, in truth, Melchior is their real father after all... Wise Children is adapted for the stage from Angela Carter''s last novel about a theatrical family living in South London. It centres around twin chorus girls, Nora and Dora Chance, whose lives are brimming with mystery, illegitimacy and scandal. Dora narrates the story as her older self, looking back on a tumultuous life, throughout which she and her sister have loved to sing and dance. A big, bawdy tangle of theatrical joy and heartbreak, Wise Children is a celebration of show business, family, forgiveness and hope. Expect show girls and Shakespeare, sex and scandal, music, mischief and mistaken identity – and butterflies by the thousand.

For the 75th anniversary of her birth, a Deluxe Edition of the master of the literary supernatural’s most celebrated book—featuring a new introduction by Kelly Link, the author of the national bestseller The Book of Love and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Get in Trouble A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

From the master of the literary supernatural and author of The Bloody Chamber, a startling tale of the redemptive power of physical and emotional love One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother''s wedding dress. The next morning her world is shattered. Forced to leave the comfortable home of her childhood, she is sent to London to live with relatives she has never met: Aunt Margaret, beautiful and speechless, and her brothers, Francie, whose graceful music belies his clumsy nature, and the volatile Finn, who kisses Melanie in the ruins of the pleasure gardens. And brooding Uncle Philip loves only the life-sized wooden puppets he creates in his toyshop. This classic gothic novel established Angela Carter as one of our most imaginative writers and augurs the themes of her later creative work.

"This story follows Evelyn, a young Englishman, along a journey through mythology and sexuality. It is a story of how he learns to be a woman, first in the brutal hands of Zero, the ragtime Nietzsche, then through the ancient Tristessa, the beautiful ghost of Hollywood past."--

Short stories inspired by America, written during the last ten years, none of which have appeared in book form before.

Once upon a time fairy talesweren''t meant just for children, and neither is AngelaCarter''s Book of Fairy Tales. This stunning collectioncontains lyrical tales, bloody tales and hilariouslyfunny and ripely bawdy stories from countries all aroundthe world- from the Arctic to Asia - and no dippyprincesses or soppy fairies. Instead, we have prettymaids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls;enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters.This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning,black arts and dirty tricks could only have beencollected by the unique and much-missed Angela Carter.Illustrated throughout with original woodcuts.

One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, citicism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents—as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales—are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter''s considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter''s marvelous, magical vision.

A collection of short stories full of extraordinary people, some of them real - Jean Duval, Baudelaire''s black mistress; Edgar Allan Poe and Lizzie Borden. Other characters flow from a fantastic imagination.

After the apocalypse, society is divided into three endlessly warring factions. The Professors and Soldiers maintain what is left of civilization while the superstitious Barbarians constantly attack them. The Barbarians are in turn attacked by the deformed and diseased Out People, who struggle to survive in a netherworld of incinerated cities. When Marianne, a Professor''s daughter, is kidnapped to become the captive bride of the Barbarian Jewel, a dangerous, erotic love story begins. For as Marianne gives herself over to the exotic life of the jungle, she also begins to discover her own capacity for barbarism and violence.

Is Sophie Fevvers, toast of Europe''s capitals, part swan...or all fake? Courted by the Prince of Wales and painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, she is an aerialiste extraordinaire and star of Colonel Kearney''s circus. She is also part woman, part swan. Jack Walser, an American journalist, is on a quest to discover the truth behind her identity. Dazzled by his love for her, and desperate for the scoop of a lifetime, Walser has no choice but to join the circus on its magical tour through turn-of-the-nineteenth-century London, St Petersburg and Siberia. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SARAH WATERS **One of the BBC''s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World** ''A spellbinding achievement'' Literary Review ''Raunchy, raucous...a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety'' The Times

a) The Unicorn As with the night-scented stock, the full splendour of the unicorn manifests itself most potently at twilight. Then the horn sprouts, swells, blooms in all its glory. SEE THE HORN (bend the tab, slit in slot marked ''x'') Despite being one of the most influential - and best-loved - of the post-war English writers, Angela Carter remains little-known as a poet. In Unicorn, the critic and historian Rosemary Hill collects together her published verse from 1963-1971, a period in which Carter began to explore the themes that dominated her later work: magic, the reworking of myths and their darker sides, and the overturning of literary and social conventions. With imagery at times startling in its violence and disconcerting in its presentation of sexuality, Unicorn provides compelling insight into the formation of a remarkable imagination. In the essay that accompanies the poems the critic and historian Rosemary Hill considers them in the context of Carter''s other work and as an aspect of the 1960s, the decade which as Carter put it ''wasn''t like they say in the movies''.

The transformation of Desiderio''s city into a mysterious kingdom is instantaneous: Hallucination flows with magical speed in every brain; avenues and plazas are suddenly as fertile as fairy-book forests. And the evil comes, too, as imaginary massacres fill the streets with blood, the dead return to question the living, and profound anxiety drives hundreds to suicide. Behind it all stands Doctor Hoffman, whose gigantic generators crack the immutable surfaces of time and space and plunge civilization into a world without the chains – or structures – of reason. Only Desiderio, immune to mirages and fantasy, can defeat him. But Desiderio''s battle will take him to the very brink of undeniable, irresistible desire.

The Vintage Collected Edition of Angela Carter''s works continues with THE CURIOUS ROOM, which contains her dramatic writings, including several previously unpublished plays and screenplays. THE CURIOUS ROOM includes a radio play about the demented Victorian painter and parricide Richard Dadd; reworkings of Puss in Boots and the Dracula story; a draft for an opera of Virginia Woolf''s ORLANDO, as well as the film scripts of THE MAGIC TOYSHOP and THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. Revealing many of the enthusiasms and concerns which ignited Carter''s fiction. THE CURIOUS ROOM is full of magnificent and startling new material, charged with the range and power of Carter''s imagination and inventiveness.

Desiderio is a government minister in a otherwise prosperous city. Unfortunately, it is currently under attack by Doctor Hoffman''s reality distorting machines. Desiderio has been tasked with assassinating Dr. Hoffman so as to stop the attack.

''Angela Carter''s writing is pyrothechnic - fuelled with ideas, packed with images and spangling the night with her starry language'' OBSERVER ''The boldest of English writers'' LORNA SAGE ''A great writer . . . A real one-off'' SALMAN RUSHDIE ''The scar drew her whole face sideways and even in profile, with the hideous thing turned away, her face was horribly lop-sided, skin, features and all, dragged away from the bone. She was a beautiful girl, a white and golden girl, like moonlight on daisies, a month ago. And yet the men still hover around her, more out of curiosity than lust, and none more so than the wildly seductive, dangerous funny man, Honeybuzzard; lithe as a stick of liquorice, he is the demonic puppet master at the swirling centre of the tale.'' Carter''s heady first novel introduces one of her most enigmatic characters. Honeybuzzard spends his nights scavenging the contents of abandoned buildings and his days seducing and tormenting lovers, enemies, and friends. He and his best friend Morris scour the backstreets of London, leaving behind a trail of destruction in the broken hearts and dashed hopes of those they love, manipulate, and ultimately discard.

The bloody chamber -- The courtship of Mr. Lyon -- The tiger''s bride -- Puss-in-Boots -- The Erl-King -- The snow child -- The lady of the house of love -- The worewolf -- The company of wolves -- Wolf-Alice.