A mysterious epidemic strikes an English village in this surreal, irresistible, and darkly funny Barbara Comyns classic, hailed as an “overlooked small masterpiece” (The Rumpus).“So funny, so exact, so twisted.” —PBSThis is the story of the Willoweed family and the English village in which they live. It begins mid-flood, ducks swimming in the drawing-room windows, “quacking their approval” as they sail around the room. “Wh...

A feminist reimagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a single mother and an enchanted friendship—from one of most bewitching British writers of the 20th century.“Comyns’s world is weird and wonderful . . . Tragic , comic and completely bonkers all in one, I’d go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius.” —The ObserverBella Winter has hit a low. Homeless and jobless, she is the mother of a toddler by a man whos...

'Comyns's world is weird and wonderful . . . a neglected genius' LUCY SCHOLES, OBSERVER**'A curious hybrid: a mixture of domestic disaster, social commentary, comedy, and romance . . . ' KATHERINE A. POWERS, BARNES & NOBLE REVIEW'I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was . . . Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else' MAGGIE O'FARRELLPretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one...

'A small Gothic masterpiece . . . I have read it many times, and with every re-read I marvel again at its many qualities' SARAH WATERS'A wonderful and original novel' ALAN HOLLINGHURST'The strange off-beat talent of Barbara Comyns [whose] innocent eye observes with child-like simplicity the most fantastic or the most ominous occurrence' GRAHAM GREENE'Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else' MAGGIE...

'Tragic, comic and completely bonkers all in one, I'd go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius' LUCY SCHOLES, GUARDIAN'It is hard not to believe that Barbara Comyns's own adventures are entangled in her fiction' JANE GARDAM, SPECTATOR'All of her books read as if she wrote them effortlessly' URSULA HOLDENOn the banks of the River Avon, five sisters are born. The seasons come and go, ...

Strange things are afoot in the English village where the Willoweed family live.Unnatural floods usher in dead peacocks and ducks, soon followed by an ominous wave of self-inflicted deaths and a peculiar illness.From their humble Willoweed cottage, sisters Emma and Hattie are helpless spectators to this unfolding chaos, their childhood idyll disintegrating as fear infects their once-familiar world.But as the virus spreads and hysteria grips everyone around them, the...

'A small Gothic masterpiece… I have read it many times, and with every re-read I marvel again at its many qualities - its darkness, its strangeness, its humour, its sadness, its startling images and twists of phrase' - Sarah Waters.Growing up in Edwardian south London, Alice Rowlands longs for romance and excitement, for a release from a life that is dreary and lonely. Her father, a vet, is harsh and oppressive; his new girlfriend, brash and lascivious.Alice seeks refuge in...

´I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was... Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else.´ - Maggie O'Farrell, author of "Hamnet".Pretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one years old and hastily married to a young painter called Charles. An artist's model with an eccentric collection of pets, she is ill-equipped to cope with the bohemian London of the 1930s, where poverty, babies (however much loved) and her husband conspire to torment her.Hopin...