`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 & an expressionistic vision of Japan: each one instantly conjures an atmosphere, dark & luminous in turn, & from the recognisably daring imagination of one of the great twentieth-century stylists.