Description

‘An extraordinary achievement’ A. L. Kennedy

‘An enjoyably uncategorisable and atmospheric book, a richly dark and idiosyncratic fairytale for grownups.’ The Guardian

Edward Carey’s witty and entrancing story of a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English playhouse – and the mysterious figure who threatens its very survival.

Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave.Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs.

Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.

Publisher Review

‘Singular – a dark delight from beginning to end’ Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation

‘Edith Holler is that rarest thing, a newly written tale that feels as though it’s been discovered behind the stacked stone walls of an abandoned estate. Eldritch, raucous, blistering, beautiful, totally indelible’ Maria Dahvana Headley, author of The Mere Wife

‘Brilliant and shiver-inducing . . . a delightfully macabre achievement, equal parts Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd’ Helene Wecker, author of The Golem and the Jinni

‘A raucous romp . . . A wonderfully strange and quirky tale about the power of penning and performing tales’ Kirkus Reviews

‘Carey draws on fairy tales and Shakespeare for a dazzling bildungsroman . . . This affirms the author’s standing as a major literary talent’ Publishers Weekly, starred review

Praise for THE SWALLOWED MAN

‘Profound and delightful . . . a strange and tender parable of two maddening obsessions; parenting and art-making’ Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers ‘A beautiful and dark meditation on fatherhood, mercy, redemption and the alchemy of isolation. Strange, moving and musical, it’s a delight’ A. L. Kennedy

‘Haunting . . . the book, sentence by sentence, offers much in which to luxuriate’ Sunday Times

Praise for LITTLE

‘Don’t miss this eccentric charmer’ @MargaretAtwood

‘Unmissable’ Olga Tokarczuk

‘Wonderful’ Max Porter

‘Absolutely brilliant’ Susan Hill

‘Delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical’ Eleanor Catton

‘Startlingly original’ The Times

‘Visceral, vivid and moving’ The Guardian

‘Guts’n’gore galore: I bloody loved it’ The Spectator

‘A tale as moving as it is macabre’ Mail on Sunday

‘One of the most original historical novels of the year . . . Macabre, funny, touching and oddly life-affirming, Little is a remarkable achievement’ Sunday Times

‘Clever and intriguing’ Daily Mail

‘Marie’s story is fascinating in itself, but Carey’s talent makes her journey a thing of wonder’ New York Times

‘By turns witty, ghoulish, poignant and curiously life-affirming, Little is a historical novel unlike any other’ BBC History Magazine

‘A delightfully strange portrait of a young orphan honing her eccentric craft amid the tumult of the French Revolution . . . a novel that teems with life’ Time