by Angela Carter (Author), Carmen Callil (Introduction), Carmen Callil (Introduction), Angela Carter (Author)
'This crazy world whirled around her, men and women dwarfed by toys and puppets, where even the birds are mechanical and the few human figures went masked...She was in the night once again, and the doll was herself.' One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother's wedding dress. The next morning her world is shattered. Forced to leave the home of her childhood, she is sent to live with relatives she has never met: gentle Aunt Margaret, mute since her wedding day; and her brothers, Francie and Finn. Brooding over all is Uncle Philip, who loves only the toys he makes in his workshop: clockwork roses and puppets that are life-size - and uncannily life-like.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Virago
Published: 31 Dec 1981
ISBN 10: 0860681904
ISBN 13: 9780860681908
Book Overview: In this, her second novel, (awarded the 1967 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) Angela Carter's brilliant imagination and starting intensity of style explore and extend the nature and boundaries of love.