A leathery bog-man transforms an old love affair; a sweet, gruesome gift is sent by the wife of an ex-lover; landscape paintings are haunted by the ghost of a young girl.

'Outside the window it's snowing, the soft, damp, windless flakes of her childhood . . .The snow melts against her face like small fingers touching. She has done an outrageous thing, but she doesn't feel guilty'


The gruesome discoveries of an archaeological dig; the ghost of a girl; a wicked revenge on an ex-lover; a well-known journalist betrayed by a former mentor and friend: stories that chart the strange and secret places of the heart.

By the author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments

A leathery bog-man transforms an old love affair; a sweet, gruesome gift is sent by the wife of an ex-lover; landscape paintings are haunted by the ghost of a young girl. This dazzling collection of ten short stories takes us into familiar Atwood territory to reveal the logic of irrational behaviour and the many textures lying beneath ordinary life.

'Atwood is a writer of importance, with a deep understanding of human behaviour, a beautiful understated style and, rarest of all, a broad scope' Marilyn French

'Funny, sharp and always incisive' Time Out

'Everything Atwood forms in words has substance and weight' Daily Telegraph

'Margaret Atwood deserves an adjective - Atwoodian - in recognition of her virtuoso wit and unmistakable style' Chicago Tribune