''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.
