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...

A young female artist faces poverty, sexism, and a marriage gone awry in this “tragic, comic, and completely bonkers” novel set in Depression-era London (The Observer).“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, bestselling author of Hamnet“I told Helen my story and she went home and cried.” So begins Our Spoons Came f...

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...

´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...

'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...

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...

Elena Ferrante is the bestselling author of My Brilliant Friend, now an HBO original series. Collected here for the first time are the seeds of future novels, the timely reflections of this internationally beloved storyteller, the abiding preoccupations of a writer who has been called “one of the great novelists of our time” (New York Times).“This is my last column, after a year that has scared and inspired me … I have written as an author of novels, taking on matters that are impo...

Longlisted for The Story Prize From the acclaimed author of Beasts of a Little Land and City of Night Birds, an exquisite, globetrotting story collection about humans in precarious balance with the natural worldSpanning multiple locales and epochs, and rendered in fine detail and vivid color, this transportive collection shows what it means to live as human inhabitants on our one miraculous planet. Lyrical, at times hilarious, and always heartfelt...

Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) possessed one of the twentieth century's most astonishing voices. Historian Judith Tick offers a sublime portrait of this ambitious risk-taker whose exceptional musical spontaneity made her a transformational artist.Becoming Ella Fitzgerald clears up long-enduring mysteries. Archival research and in-depth family interviews shed new light on the singer's difficult childhood, the tragic death of her mother, and the year she spent in a girls' refor...

“Narrator Cia Court's portrayal of a troubled woman's journey of self-discovery is intriguing and engaging.”—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)Armed with a terminal diagnosis, a grudge, and a rental car, Hester sets out to fulfill her lifelong dream of killing her father in this brilliantly subversive and bleakly funny debut novel.When Hester is diagnosed with terminal cancer on her fortieth birthday, she knows immediately what she must do:...

**NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER"Equal parts mischievous, moony, and tart...Her prose offers, in a single page, poetic candor, sly wit, dad jokes, and contemporary therapyspeak." ― The New Yorker“Her weirdest and funniest yet — in the best way possible.” ― Los Angeles Times"Audacious, incisive and very funny." ― Daily MailA masterful story that asks: What if the different sides of your personality had trus...

Acclaimed author of 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas Marie-Helene Bertino's Parakeet is a darkly funny and warm-hearted novel about a young woman whose dead grandmother (in the form of a parakeet) warns her not to marry and sends her out to find an estranged loved one.The week of her wedding, The Bride is visited by a bird she recognizes as her dead grandmother because of the cornflower blue line beneath her eyes, her dubious expression, and the way sh...