Wise Children - Angela Carter

Wise Children is a richly comic tale surrounding the tangled fortunes of two theatrical families. Seen through the eyes of 75-year-old Dora Chance, and her twin Nora, the novel unfurls within the space of a day, as the sisters prepare to attend their perennially absent father's 100th birthday party.

With a wide and colourful, often rather crazy cast, the story veers off in a multitude of directions as Dora's reminiscent narrative slips from past to present suddenly and seamlessly throughout.

Packed with gags, tears, histories, mysteries, feuds and romantic (and some not-so-romantic) unions, Wise Children, doesn't miss a trick. Playing on Carter's admiration of Shakespeare and the surreal, the novel is jam-packed with entrancing magic realism and elements of the carnivalesque.