This is a fascinating study of the works of Angela Carter - the most inventive British novelist of her generation. Although much of Carter's work is considered part of the contemporary canon, its true strangeness is still only partially understood. Lorna Sage argues that one key to a better understanding of Carter's writings is the extraordinary intelligence with which she read the cultural signs of our times. It discusses her works that range from structuralism and the study of folk tales in the 1960s to fairy stories, gender politics and the theoretical 'pleasure of the text', which she makes so real in her writing. Carter legitimised the life of fantasy and celebrated the fertility of the female imagination more than any other writer. Lorna Sage's authoritative study explores the roots of Carter's originality, covering all her novels as well as some short stories and non-fiction. It is aimed at students of literature in schools and in higher education teachers of literature and scholars valuing the extensive and up-to-date bibliography. It is aimed at school, academic and public libraries. Angela Carter was one of the twentieth-century's most inventive and popular writers. This study covers all her novels and short stories, including some non-fiction. She is widely studied on English Literature courses. Lorna Sage is a well-respected scholar of women writers.