Persephone

To celebrate having reached their one hundredth volume, here is Persephone's marvelous collection of short stories by women. They are very well chosen: some are by first-rank authors, including Katherine Mansfield, Edith Wharton, Dorothy Parker, Irène Némirovsky and Penelope Fitzgerald; others from well-known writers who have been championed by the imprint and deservedly gained fresh recognition, such as Dorothy Whipple and Mollie Panter-Downes. There are 30 stories in all, and all remarkably unhampered by their time. The first, Susan Glaspell's story of love and lexicography from 1909, seems as bold as the last, by Georgina Hammick (from 1986), though you might not have found such an unflinching description of a gynaecological procedure 103 years ago. Put-upon mothers, exasperated wives, discarded mistresses - shared tropes bind these disparate stories into a coherent whole. A stand-out is Norah Hoult's 1938 story of a wife whose husband is grateful for the money her gentleman friend pays her for sex.

Retell the ancient Greek myth explaning the origin of the seasons.

Finalist for 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction • Co-Winner of 2022 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book After years of secrecy and silence, Rowan McCandless leaves an abusive relationship and rediscovers her voice and identity through writing. She was never to lie to him. She was never to leave him; and she was never supposed to tell. Persephone’s Children chronicles Rowan McCandless’s odyssey as a Black, biracial woman escaping the stranglehold of a long-term abusive relationship. Through a series of thematically linked and structurally inventive essays, McCandless explores the fraught and fragmented relationship between memory and trauma. Multiple mythologies emerge to bind legacy and loss, motherhood and daughterhood, racism and intergenerational trauma, mental illness and resiliency. It is only in the aftermath that she can begin to see the patterns in her history, hear the echoes of oppression passed down from unknown, unnamed ancestors, and discover her worth and right to exist in the world. A RARE MACHINES BOOK

"The English author best known for not being known."--The Atlantic

The Junior Library Guild selected, magical reimagining of the classic Greek myth returns to print! The Greek myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone is reborn in a sprawling, high fantasy adventure inspired by the art style of Japanese anime and vintage, 1950s American comics. Despite being the adopted daughter of a magician, Persephone is just a normal girl, but that’s exactly the problem. So ordinary next to a literal force of nature. Driven by recurring nightmares as well as a budding curiosity, Persephone finds the secrets of her birth to be elusive and well-hidden by everyone around her. A journey to the Underworld will certainly bring the answers she seeks, but an epic adventure isn’t all that awaits her in the depths of Hades… Storyteller and illustrator Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky (Flavor Girls) weaves a story of magic and intrigue in this stunningly rendered modern retelling of the Greek myth, enchanting fans of Miyazaki and Lore Olympus alike.

According to the ancient legend, the Lord of the Dead kidnapped the innocent daughter of Demeter--or did he? The truth is, Persephone is no damsel in distress, but a spirited young lady with an overbearing mother. A failed scheme by Apollo leads Persephone to a chance encounter with the mysterious and handsome Hades, who is struck by love's arrow. Now Hades must wrestle with his aching heart before he loses total control of his feelings, but desire is raging inside Persepone herself.

A romance novel on how Hades and Persephone met.