According to Russian myth, Baba Yaga is a witch who lives in a house built on chicken legs and who kidnaps small children. In Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, internationally acclaimed writer Dubravka Ugresic takes the timeless legend and spins it into a fresh and distinctly modern tale of femininity, aging, identity, and love. With barbed wisdom and razor-sharp wit, Ugresic weaves together the stories of four women in contemporary Eastern Europe: a writer who grants her dying mother’s final wish by traveling to her hometown in Bulgaria, an elderly woman who wakes up every day hoping to die, a buxom blonde hospital worker who’s given up on love, and a serial widow who harbors a secret talent for writing. Through the women’s fears and desires, and their struggles against invisibility, Ugresic presents a brilliantly postmodern retelling of an ancient myth that is infused with a human warmth . . . [and] the sweet magic of storytelling”(Times Saturday Review).

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg

Literature & Fiction

Ugrešić, Dubravka

Literary

Canongate U.S.

Brilliantly effective. . . . Surely among the most beautiful and incisive [pages] Byatt has ever written.”Paul Binding, The Independent (UK) A brilliant, highly intelligent, fiercely personal rendition of the Scandinavian mythology. . . . A gorgeous enrichment and interpretation.”Ursula K. Le Guin, Literary Review (UK) The gods meet their cataclysmic end in this acclaimed work of fiction from the inimitable author of Possession and The Children’s Book, now in paperback. As the bombs of the Blitz rain down on Britain, one young girl is evacuated to the countryside. She is struggling to make sense of her new life, whose dark, war-ravaged days feel very removed from the peace and love being preached in church and at school. Then she is given a copy of Asgard and the Godsa book of ancient Norse mythsand her inner and outer worlds are transformed. She feels an instant kinship with these vivid, beautiful, terrifying tales of the end of the gods: they seem far more real, far more familiar during these precarious days. How could this child know that fifty years on, many of the birds and flowers she took for granted on her walks to school would become extinct? War, natural disaster, reckless gods, and the recognition of the world's impermanence are just some of the threads that Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, Ragnarok is a landmark piece of storytelling from one of the most brilliant minds and speakers of our generation” (The Independent).

Ragnarok

BYATT, A.S.

Mythology & Folk Tales

From internationally bestselling crime writer Natsuo Kirino comes a mythical feminist noir about family secrets, broken loyalties, and the search from truth in a deceitful world. In a place like no other, on a mystical island in the shape of tear drop, two sisters are born into a family of oracles. Kamikuu is admired far and wide for her otherworldly beauty; small and headstrong Namima learns to live in her sister’s shadow. On her sixth birthday, Kamikuu is chosen to become the next Oracle, serving the realm of light, while Namima is forced to serve the realm of darknessdestined to spend eternity guiding the spirits of the deceased to the underworld. As the sisters serve opposite fates, Namima embarks on a journey that takes her from the experience of first love to the aftermath of scalding betrayal. Caught in an elaborate web of treachery, she travels between the land of the living and the Realm of the Dead, seeking vengeance and closure. At the heart of this exquisitely dark tale, Kirino masterfully reimagines the ancient Japanese creation myth of Izanami and Izanaki. A provocative, fantastical saga, The Goddess Chronicle tells a sumptuous story of sex, murder, gods and goddesses, and bittersweet revenge.

The Goddess Chronicle

KIRINO, NATSUO

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is the remarkable new piece of fiction from best-selling and famously atheistic author Philip Pullman. By challenging the events of the gospels, Pullman puts forward his own compelling and plausible version of the life of Jesus, and in so doing, does what all great books do: makes the reader ask questions. In Pullman’s own words, The story I tell comes out of the tension within the dual nature of Jesus Christ, but what I do with it is my responsibility alone. Parts of it read like a novel, parts like history, and parts like a fairy tale; I wanted it to be like that because it is, among other things, a story about how stories become stories.” Written with unstinting authority, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a pithy, erudite, subtle, and powerful book by a controversial and beloved author. It is a text to be read and reread, studied and unpacked, much like the Good Book itself.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (Myths)

PULLMAN, PHILIP

British & Irish

Upon its hardcover publication, renowned author Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ provoked heated debates and stirred a frenzy of controversy throughout the clerical and literary worlds alike with its bold retelling of the life of Jesus Christ. In this remarkable piece of fiction, famously atheistic author Philip Pullman challenges the events of the Gospels and puts forward his own compelling and plausible version of the life of Jesus. Written with unstinting authority, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a pithy, erudite, subtle, and powerful book by a beloved author, a text to be read and reread, studied and unpacked, much like the Good Book itself.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Scottish history has been shaped and defined by a series of great battles - Bannockburn, Flodden and Culloden have a resonance and impact far beyond Scotland itself. In the first full military history for many years, John Sadler weaves chronicle, narrative, and analysis together in a masterly way, recreating the drama and passion of centuries past.

Scottish Battles: from Mons Graupius to Culloden

History

Sadler, John

Europe

1999 Canongate trade paperback, reprint of 1995 edition. ISBN: 9780862415341. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes). A truly marvelous historical short story during Napoleons' Europe.

Complete Brigadier Gerard (Canongate Classic)

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

Rob Roy MacGregor, Scotland’s most romantic, elusive hero, was an outlaw and a life-long enemy of Montrose. So well-known was he that no one thought to write down a physical description of him, or any direct record of his childhood and youth. Thus tracking down Rob Roy today is to embark upon a painstaking search through archives, estate records and folk myths, enriched and confused by the romantic yarns that have grown up around him. W. H. Murray brings together new interpretations of Rob Roy’s life and times to produce a new understanding of the character, actions and motives of a man who became a myth and symbol of Scotland. Murray shows that Rob Roy’s renown stems from his remarkable force of character, rather than his politics or his place in the writings of Sir Walter Scott. His political mission outwardly failed, but his extraordinary resolution in adversity has earned him his place in history and legend.

Rob Roy MacGregor: His Life and Times

Murray, W.H.

From the abandoned crofts of Mingulay to the standing stones of Orkney, from the white beaches of Colonsay to the spectacular Cuillins of Skye, this is the first complete gazetteer to cover all of Scotland’s many hundreds of islands, including both those which are uninhabited and those which are notoriously difficult to reach. Packed with information on access, anchorages, points of historical or natural interest, and things to see and do, this fascinating compendium provides indispensable information for touring, for browsing, for reference, and for all those travellers who wish to sail to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world. No other book can begin to emulate the range and depth of the information contained in The Scottish Islands. This is an impressive work of reference, providing a fascinating personal view of Scotland’s distant outposts. Guide, history, travelogue - it is essential reading for all who love Scotland.

The Scottish Islands (Canongate Classic)

Travel

Haswell-Smith, Hamish

The Great Psychedelic Discography

Arts & Photography

Strong, Martin

Music

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