(infobeskrivning från engelsk boksida): "In this brilliantly imagined novel, Angela Carter explores the tormented world of adolescence and the heart's ability to withstand even the deepest sorrows. "A tour de force . . . put out shoots of all Carter's fascinations, which turns up in her later books: illusion and stage magic, myths and folktales, sorcery, the allure of suffering, incest, revenge, escape". -- Voice Literary Supplement."