Description
Book SynopsisA dazzling, provocative debut story collection from celebrated Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha, putting fierce female characters centre stage in brilliantly funny and sharp twists on fairy tale.
‘Dark, subversive... Here are fairy tales and myths reworked with a feminist bent’ Tatler
Inspired by horror fiction, myths and fairy tales, Apple and Knife is an unsettling ride that swerves into the supernatural to explore the dangers and power of occupying a female body in today’s world.
These stories set in the Indonesian everyday – in corporate boardrooms, in shanty towns, on dangdut stages – reveal a soupy otherworld stewing just beneath the surface. This is subversive feminist horror at its best, where men and women alike are arbiters of fear, and where revenge is sometimes sweetest when delivered from the grave.
Dark, humorous, and vividly realised, Apple and Knife brings together taboos, inversions, sex and death in a heady, intoxicating mix.
Trade ReviewA phantasmagorical collection of short stories and reimagined tales,
not unlike Angela Carter and Carmen Maria Machado. -- Matthew Janney * Guardian *
Sometimes disturbing, often humorous, but always unapologetically feminist…
a deeply, brilliantly macabre, visceral collection which pulls very few punches. * BBC Radio 4 Open Book *
Dark, subversive... Here are fairytales and myths reworked with a feminist bent, with plenty of blood, revenge and horror thrown in... A fun – if unsettling – collection. * Tatler *
A sharply subversive feminist retread of fairy tales and myths. These darkly humorous, sometimes viscerally violent tales are inspired by horror stories, exploring taboos and the female body in the modern world. * i *
These short stories are
fiercely funny and feminist and mix the everyday with the supernatural. * Red *
