228 pages |Paperback

From the brilliant, sui generis Anne Serreauthor of the celebratedGovernessescome three delicious, thoroughly out-of-the-way tales.

Fairy-tale atmospheres and complex narratives are a hallmark of the fiction of Anne Serre, represented here by three radically heterodox novellas.The Foolmay have stepped out of a tarot pack: I came across this little figure rather late in life. Not being familiar with playing cards, still less with the tarot, I was a bit uncomfortable when I first set eyes on him. I believe in magic figures and distrust thema figure observing you can turn the world upside down.The Narratorconcerns a sort of writer-hero: Outcasts who cant even tell a story are what you might call dropouts, lunatics, misfits. With them the narrator is in his element, but has one huge advantage: he can tell a story.Little Table, Set Yourself!a moral tale concerning a family happily polyamorousis the most overtly a fable of these three works, and the briefest, but thin as a razor is thin. A dream logic rules each of these wildly unpredictable, sensual and surreal novellas: these may be romps, but nevertheless deeply moral and entirely unforgettable ones.