Finally! Canongate have launched a dedicated website for their Myths Series (or, at least, I have just found one). This is a blessed relief since their main website is such a confusing mess, making new releases very difficult to follow. (I wonder if they're are doing anything about it? Surely they must have some technological guru beavering away on a new look somewhere?) And, although I feel decidedly conflicted about the raison d'etre of the Myths project as a whole, I'm entirely dedicated to the lovely, blunt books themselves. This winter sees the release of three new titles: Ali Smith's Girl Meets Boy, a reworking of the romance of Iphis and Ianthe; Salley Vickers' Where Three Roads Meet, which contemplates a meeting between Freud and Oedipus; and Binu and the Great Wall by Su Tong, whose 'Myth of Meng' I don't know - cue handy synopsis:
'In Peach village, crying is forbidden. But as a child, Binu never learnt to hide her tears. Shunned by the villagers, she faced a bleak future, until she met Qiliang, an orphan who offered her his hand in marriage.Then one day Qiliang disappears. Binu learns that he has been transported hundreds of miles and forced to labour on a project of terrifying ambition and scale — the building of the Great Wall.
Binu is determined to find and save her husband. Inspired by her love, she sets out on an extraordinary journey towards Great Swallow mountain, with only a blind frog for company. What follows is an unforgettable story of passion, hardship and magical adventure.'
Yum, yum, yum. My Amazon order is placed already.
~~Victoria~~