books to know me

Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti • 1862

A deliciously dark rhyming fairy tale, Goblin Market tells the story of two beautiful, virginal sisters seduced by lewd goblin men serving up luscious but ruinous fruits. Christina Rossetti's first major work, the poem was published in 1862 to critical acclaim. Embraced today for its provocative imagery and timeless theme of forbidden pleasures, the poem has become a literary classic.<br/>This special edition includes the enchanting paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the author's eldest brother and leader of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and illustrations by William Morris, whose beautiful wife, Jane Burdon Morris, was Dante Gabriel's lover and model. A fascinating afterword by acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates places this haunting work of repressed Victorian eroticism in its literary, artistic, and social context.

The Princess of 72nd Street

Elaine Kraf • 1979

<p>Ellen is a single artist living alone on New York's Upper West Side in the 1970s. She is beset by old boyfriends, paint pigment choices, and, occasionally, by 'radiances' - episodes of joyous, reckless unreality. Under the influence of 'radiances' she becomes Princess Esmeralda, and West 72nd Street becomes the kingdom over which she rules. Life as Esmeralda is a liberating experience for Ellen, who, despite the chaos and stigma these episodes can bring, relishes the respite from the confines of the everyday. And yet those around her, particularly the men in her life, are threatened by her incarnation as Esmeralda, and by the freedom that it gives her.<br> <br> <i>The Princess of 72nd Street</i> is Elaine Kraf's witty, dizzyingly inventive take on female liberation and mental health, a work of immense literary power and unbridled energy. Provocative at the time of its publication in 1979 and thoroughly iconoclastic, it is a remarkable portrait of an unforgettable woman.</p>

The Red Tent

Anita Diamant • 2007