Angela Carter

5 summariesFantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

Angela Olive Pearce, who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works. She is best known for her book The Bloody Chamber, which was published in 1979. In 2008, The Times ranked Carter tenth in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2012, Nights at the Circus was selected as the best ever winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Books by Angela Carter

5 books available

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Angela Carter
4.0 (39k) average on GoodreadsFantasy
Angela Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber' luxuriates in the gothic shadows of classic fairy tales, reimagining them with a subversive, sensual darkness that exposes the raw, beating heart beneath familiar fables.
Nights at the Circus
Angela Carter
3.9 (10k) average on GoodreadsFantasy
In a dazzling fin-de-siècle world of freaks and marvels, an American journalist chases the truth behind Sophie Fevvers, a winged aerialiste who may be a genuine swan-woman or the ultimate circus illusion, as their love story unfolds across the stages and frozen landscapes of Europe.
The Magic Toyshop
Angela Carter
3.9 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction
After her childhood is shattered, Melanie is thrust into a bizarre, puppet-filled world ruled by her toy-making uncle, where she must navigate a grotesque coming-of-age among life-sized dolls and mechanical birds.
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman
Angela Carter
3.8 (3k) average on GoodreadsFantasy
In a city descending into chaos from a mad doctor's machines, a man obsessed with the doctor's glass daughter goes on a surreal journey through a world of centaurs, cannibals, and acrobats, fighting reality itself to win his dream-bound love.
The Sadeian Woman
Angela Carter
4.0 (1k) average on GoodreadsHistory
Angela Carter dissects the Marquis de Sade's female archetypes, Justine and Juliette, to expose power dynamics in sexuality, marriage, and pornography, making them symbols for contemporary understanding.