The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Familiar tales retold with a dark gothic twist, each tempered with a saucy wit and the ability to impart new meaning onto old standards. Heroines are erotic, independent and canny, and their victories contain a bite, an edge that places these tales outside the traditional happy ending. Stories are beautifully overblown and hyperreal, with a sly, subtle humour that tempers even the darkest tale. This world is very female, where the instigators of action and solvers of perilous events are mothers, daughters, wives and wild girls.