Myths & Legends Books

Book SynopsisOnce upon a time, our ancestors told tales of asexuality, symbolic stories that hint at other identities: a princess who grows a beard to escape marriage, a knight who forsakes his wife’s bed to become a werewolf, a goddess with detachable parts, a planet where everyone is asexual. Drawn from many times and places, retold and reimagined for the 21st century, Elizabeth Hopkinson’s second book of myths and tales brings asexuality out of the closet and gives it the history it has been denied. "'Asexual Myths & Tales is a fairy tale connoisseur’s delight. The stories are both fresh and familiar, delicately told, and filled with magic, romance, heartache and wonder.” Leife Shallcross Author of The Beast’s Heart

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Book SynopsisSpringing from the heart of medieval France, The Romance of the Faery Melusine tells the story of Raymondin of Poitiers who accidentally kills his uncle while out hunting, and fleeing deep into the forest, encounters a faery by a fountain. Falling deeply into a mutual soul-love, the faery Melusine agrees to help Raymondin and to become his wife, on condition that he makes no attempt to see her between dusk and dawn each Saturday. On this basis the house of Lusignan thrives and prospers, until a series of treacherous events tempt Raymondin to violate his promise and shatter the magic which holds his faery wife to the human world. First rendered into written form in a text by Jean d'Arras in 1393, the legend of the Faery Melusine is well established in France, where she is credited with having founded the family, town and castle of Lusignan. However, it is very little known in the English-speaking world, despite the fact that Melusine originally hailed from Scotland. This new retelling by Gareth Knight translated from Andre Lebey's 1920s novel Le Roman de la Melusine captures the freshness of Lebey's telling of the legend and brings the benefit of Knight's expertise both in French literature and in the esoteric faery tradition.

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Book SynopsisKing David spies on beautiful Bathsheba as she bathes and his desire drives him to acts of such callousness that even his god turns away from him. Only through searching penitence and the psalms that express this can he find him way back into the light. A world and centuries away, King Henry VIII looks up at his prized tapestries of David and Bathsheba and sees in David a mighty predecessor, defender of the faith. Henry’s courtier-poet, Sir Thomas Wyatt, sees instead two kings who take what they want, careless of the lives they destroy in the process — David’s lust led him to murder, while Henry is ruthless in his pursuit of Ann Boleyn and the son she has promised him … more ruthless still when she fails to provide an heir. Wyatt too, once dangerously close to Ann himself, is caught in the slipstream of wilful power. David’s psalms of penitence reach across the years to touch and speak to him directly. Shackled in a cell in the Tower of London, not expecting to get out alive, he thinks of his beloved falcon Lukkes, and wishes he too could fly. Lux weaves past and present into a story of love and its reach, fidelity and faith, power and poetry, for readers of Marilynne Robinson, Anne Carson, and Hilary Mantel.Trade Review‘This book is a spell. Cook’s retelling of these old stories is masterful, immersive, lyrical, and psychologically profound. With the deftest of touches, she illuminates these well-known figures, David, Bathsheba, Thomas Wyatt, and makes them shine anew.’ -- Madeline Miller, author of Circe‘Hugely ambitious and very beautiful.’ * BBC Radio 4’s, Saturday Review *‘Cook writes with impressive empathy … There is both a painterly eye and a physicality about her prose.’ -- Diana Hendry * The Spectator *‘Cook’s account of an Old Testament repentance is a full-throated one.’ -- Elizabeth Buchan * Daily Mail *‘Intelligence, originality, and poetic grace … Ms. Cook reflects on the momentous change by tenderly humanising all of these larger-than-life characters. Her portrayal of Bathsheba is both more compassionate and more convincing than the usual caricature of a power-hungry seductress. Her David, too, is remarkably approachable … Again and again in this discerning novel, sin and suffering culminate in a majestic work of humility and praise.’ -- Sam Sacks * The Wall Street Journal *‘Lux emerges as an unusual and accomplished page turner. It’s ambitious, incredibly detailed … the clarity and beauty of the prose is a joy. An overwhelming sense of destiny is palpable and defining.’ -- Kevin O’Sullivan * Irish Examiner *‘Elizabeth Cook’s visual imagination is as sharp and gorgeous as any Pre-Raphaelite painter’s. Her psychological penetration is deep and compassionate. They are both unfailing as she weaves together the stories of King David and Bathsheba and of Thomas Wyatt and Ann Boleyn. If this is, in a way, a tour de force, it doesn’t read like that: the connections are organic and realistic, gripping the reader and integral to the rapid movement of the narrative.’ -- John Drury, author of Music at Midnight‘Almost two decades in the making, Lux is well worth the wait. Like its predecessor Achilles, it’s an ambitious and compelling novel, equally vivid in its conjuring of myth and history, particularly striking in its portrayal of religious belief under pressure, the nature of holiness and the sacred. It’s a remarkable book.’ -- Michael Symmons Roberts, author of Drysalter‘Cook’s multilayered prose is rich, luminous, and pays particular attention to the perspectives of women, all but ignored in the original David story.’ -- Alastair Mabbott * The Herald *‘Cook’s quietly masterful prose builds a huge world, unsentimental, numinous and deeply moving. Longing, appetite, love, grief, regret, and their consequences: Lux, Wyatt's falcon, is named for the luxury of courts and concupiscence but also the light of the desert, of song, of David’s Yahweh. This novel is a joy to read.’ -- Susan Hitch‘An ambitious attempt to yoke together two narratives separated in time but not in their timeless resonances.’ -- Howard Cooper * Jewish Chronicle *‘A well-told thinker of a read.’ -- Jon Wise * Weekend Sport *‘In her second novel, Elizabeth Cook has followed her own passions … to good effect. Her command of language, and of her material, makes this an extremely satisfying read.’ * Anne Goodwin *‘Lux is a remarkable interweaving of one ancient king’s story and his place as redeemer within and beyond Judaism.’ -- Rabbi Dr Aviva Kipen * J-Wire *‘Cook writes beautiful and complicated prose, befitting of the subjects she chooses … Informed by the Judeo-Christian spiritual tradition without being subject to it, here is the rare book that functions on multiple levels, inspiring new ideas and insights with each re-reading … The most powerful chapters of Lux are those spent with women … Cook plucks these hollowed-out characters from Samuel and imbues them with souls. She circles the Bible story of David and Bathsheba, plumbs its depths and breathes life into it, creating the type of mannered, academic leaning novel that the English seem to adore … But press down firmly on the cover and the words, regardless of how beautiful they are, will flow out its sides like water from a sponge.’ -- Tara Cheesman * On the Seawall *

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Book SynopsisThe Stripper Goddess of Japan: The Life and Afterlives of Ame no Uzume is the first complete English translation of Ame no Uzume den (1991) by one of Japan''s most influential post-war intellectuals, Tsurumi Shunsuke (1922-2015). Tsurumi regarded this book as the most important of his vast and varied corpus; in a sense, it is his tour de force, liberally drawing from his profound knowledge and thinking in multiple fields, ranging from classic and contemporary literature to philosophy, sociology, history, anthropology, politics, popular culture and ''marginal'' (genkai) art.Tsurumi''s subject, Ame no Uzume, is a minor goddess in Japanese mythology who appears in the ancient texts Kojiki and Nihon shoki. She is famous for her comic-shamanistic dance performance enticing the Sun Goddess Amaterasu out of the Heavenly Cave where she has retreated as a result of her brother''s violence. Uzume''s half-naked performance is so entertaining to the other deities that Amaterasu ventures outside, thus restoring light to the world. In another episode, Uzume faces a formidable stranger giant, Sarutahiko, at the crossroads of Heaven and Earth, and manages to ease tensions and avoid confrontation. In both instances she reveals her abilities as an open-minded and border-crossing goddess with a democratic, pacifist and mirthful approach to dealing with discomfort and adversity.Tsurumi identifies Uzume''s eight quintessential characteristics and demonstrates how some of these are found in people across a wide range of genres, fields and cultures through time and space. Many of his examples are women, including the founder of kabuki, Izumo no O-Kuni; the legendary post-war striptease performer, Ichijo Sayuri; the founder of the ''dancing religion'', Kitamura Sayo; the provocative writer-nun, Setouchi Harumi/Jakucho; and the famously humorous novelist-essayist, Tanabe Seiko. Tsurumi''s method, structure and style perfectly match his subject, opening the way for deep consideration into ways in which the many serious global issues facing humankind such as climate change, human rights, and escalating warfare may be resolved or at least diminished.

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Book SynopsisA juggernaut in the literary world at the apex of history, culture, politics, and art, the Greeks altered almost every facet of Western ideology and stand alone as a legend in the realm of human history. No other culture can boast such a profound importance on the rest of the known world and the Greeks have the mythology to back it up. Out of their curiosity about the world around them, their pursuits of science and knowledge, conquest, and avarice, the rich tradition of their gods and goddesses reach out to us from across the creative divide and tell a tall tale of what the Greeks cherished, revered, feared, and believed.Now the wealth of this glorious empire’s mythology is at your fingertips, filled with the triumphs and tragedies of these larger-than-life characters. From the fiery creation of the universe and to the petty jealousies of its lowliest, smallest players, the spectrum of Greek mythology is yours to explore. Discover the great conflicts that plagued both the lords of the skies as well as the leagues of men who battled against their gods and spun forth these incredible tales. Prepare to do battle with the kind of creatures known only to nightmares that the Greeks introduced into popular culture and beyond. Experience the love, loss, history, infidelity, triumph, and tradition of the these ancient heroes and villains that continue to inspire the masses even thousands of years after their demise.

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