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Oct 27, 1998 | ISBN 9780679762225 Buy
Oct 21, 2009 | ISBN 9780307483874 Buy
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Oct 27, 1998 | ISBN 9780679762225
Oct 21, 2009 | ISBN 9780307483874
The magnificent title story of this collection of fairy tales for adults describes the strange and uncanny relationship between its extravagantly intelligent heroine–a world renowned scholar of the art of story-telling–and the marvelous being that lives in a mysterious bottle, found in a dusty shop in an Istanbul bazaar. As A.S. Byatt renders this relationship with a powerful combination of erudition and passion, she makes the interaction of the natural and the supernatural seem not only convincing, but inevitable.The companion stories in this collection each display different facets of Byatt’s remarkable gift for enchantment. They range from fables of sexual obsession to allegories of political tragedy; they draw us into narratives that are as mesmerizing as dreams and as bracing as philosophical meditations; and they all us to inhabit an imaginative universe astonishing in the precision of its detail, its intellectual consistency, and its splendor."A dreamy treat…. It is not merely strange, it is wondrous."—Boston Globe"Alternatingly erudite and earthy, direct and playful…. If Scheherazade ever needs a break, Byatt can step in, indefinitely."—Chicago Tribune"Byatt’s writing is crystalline and splendidly imaginative…. These [are] perfectly formed tales."—Washington Post Book World
A. S. BYATT is the author of numerous novels, including The Children’s Book, The Biographer’s Tale, and Possession, which was awarded the Booker Prize. She has also written two novellas, published together as Angels & Insects, five collections of short stories,… More about A. S. Byatt
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