'I started to write short pieces when I was living in a room too small
to write a novel in.' So says Angela Carter of this collection, written
during a period living in Toyko. These exotic, sensuous stories
represent Carter's first major achievement in the short story form. Lush
imaginary forests, a murderous puppet show and an expressionistic vision
of Japan: each one instantly conjures an atmosphere, dark and luminous
in turn, and from the recognisably daring imagination of one of the
great 20th-century stylists.