I was also unenthusiastic about the story’s heavy focus on the teenage characters, finding this gave the whole thing too much of a YA feel for my liking. Fifteen award-winning, bestselling authors have written original stories embodying the spirit of Virago: feminist, fearless, fun, wild and defiant of convention. The tale's told primarily by Alex herself, recounting both what happened during the months she was teaching at the Unit and what's going on now, as she confronts hostile and friendly lawyers because of some initially unspecified disaster. This seems to me to be an example of what happens when the marketing department is allowed too much influence in a book's categorisation. I enjoyed the sense of inclusivity and representation, the richness that came with so many different perspectives exploring identity, gender, sexuality, patriarchy, femininity, motherhood, ageing, and more.

Churail” by Kamila Shamsie - pakistāniešu folklorā balstīts maģiskā reālisma stāsts, kurā tēvs mēgina aizbēgt uz Londonu no būtnes, par ko varētu pārvērtusies mirusī sieva (bet vai saknes ir iespējams nogriezt? Furies is a short story collection pulled together to celebrate 50 years of Virago as a feminist publishing house. But little blemishes like these are overwhelmingly outweighed by the novel's many merits -- not least the fact that it's an absolutely gripping read.I was invested in the book’s entirety as I waited (im)patiently for Kohda’s offering, which didn’t surface until near the end. Although a medical examiner listed 33 injuries to Smith’s body, including bite marks, when a police investigator was asked on the stand about the severity of her injuries, he said, “Honestly, I mean, I would have thought there would be more. In form, too, there is an exuberant variety: notwithstanding the classical beginning-middle-and-end rigour, they manage to include a graphic narration, an unschooled voice, an excerpt from medical case notes. she captures the hearts of some of the more intense and troubled students – but not necessarily in a good way. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth ­ in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009.

The overall vibe was that this was a writing assignment, not something born from creativity and a passion for the topic. Hava, whose gift for piracy has won her the name of 'Sea Demon', is closing in on the whereabouts of those who unleashed the murderous hordes. When invited to an advanced study group by her alluring art teacher, Annabel, she is at once terrified and delighted. Meanwhile, Helen Oyeyemi has a lot of fun with the Vituperator, which features an AI trolling system that makes passive-aggressive online attacks: “It generates no-holds-barred insults directed at family members both living and deceased, and it alternates these with compliments that are extremely unpleasant in ways that you can’t quite put your finger on. If the sisterhood were an idea that could be compressed into the shape and size of a book, it would be Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed.Across mythologies and throughout history, the stories of women’s lives frequently end with their bodies as sites of violence. But Alex's enthusiasm for these writings (which I gather reflects the author's own), and the way she uses them to bring the kids out of themselves as well as, unwittingly, herself out of her blanket of grief, had me eager to learn more. I remember seeing this when Karen wrote about it, and of course Virago were publicising it on social media.