Ladies of Grace Adieu: and Other Stories

Faerie is never as far away as you think. Sometimes you find you have crossed an invisible line and must cope, as best you can, with petulant princesses, vengeful owls, ladies who pass their time embroidering terrible fates or with endless paths in deep, dark woods and houses that never appear the same way twice. The heroines and heroes bedevilled by such problems in these fairy tales include a conceited Regency clergyman, an eighteenth-century Jewish doctor and Mary, Queen of Scots, as well as two characters from "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Strange himself and the Raven King".

'An unholy alliance of Austen and Angela Carter' Daily Mail 'These tales read as if Jane Austen had rewritten the Brothers Grimm ... wonderful' Spectator 'Witty rejoinders and genteel manners to contrast nicely with the darker tones of hauntings, shape-changing and black magic ... Clarke is a natural storyteller' Sunday Telegraph 'It is the poise and lightness of Clarke's prose that draws the reader in' Daily Telegraph