Set against the backdrop of Arthurian legends, this children's book offers a fresh take on traditional folklore through a captivating adventure filled with mystery. It challenges readers to reconsider the narratives of legends and highlights the importance of diverse voices in storytelling. Clare Pollard's engaging narrative invites young readers to explore the complexities of how stories are crafted and whose experiences are represented.
Why don't they tell you it is the beautiful princess who becomes the evil queen; that they are just the same person at different points in their story? Versailles, 1682: a city of the rich, a living fairy-tale, Louis XIV's fever dream. It's a place of opulence, beauty, and power. But strip back the lavish exterior of polite society, and you'll find a dark undercurrent of sexual intrigue and vicious gossip. Nobody is safe here - no matter how highly born they are. No one knows this better than Madame Marie d'Aulnoy. Each week, a rogue group of intellectuals gather at her Parisian home to debate, flirt and perform Contes de Fées - fairy tales - that challenge the status quo, at a salon that will change the course of literature forever. But while they weave tales of glass slippers, enchanted beasts and long-haired princesses, a wolf is lurking, who threatens to destroy the members of the salon one by one. Brilliant and bawdy, romantic and provocative, The Modern Fairies is a dazzling novel inspired by real events, about the delights and dangers of storytelling in dark times. 'Pollard's future, as a novelist, is very bright indeed' The i, praise for Delphi
"Delphi is a mesmerising story of our pasts, our presents and our futures, and how we keep on living in a world that is ever-more uncertain and absurd.It is 2020 and in a time more turbulent than any of us could have ever imagined, a woman is attempting to write a book about prophecy in the ancient world.Navigating the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes fixated on our many forms of divination and prediction: on oracles, tarot cards and tea leaves and the questions we have always asked as we scroll and click and rage against our fates.But in doing so she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her own home. For despite our best intentions - our sacrifices and our bargains with the gods - time, certainty and, sometimes, those we love, can still slip away ..."--Publisher's website
What is The Tiger Who Came to Tea really about?What has Meg and Mog got to do with Polish embroidery?Why is death in picture books so often represented by being eaten? We've read Green Eggs and Ham, laughed at Mr Tickle and whetted our appetites with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. But what lies behind the picture books that make up our childhood? Fierce Bad Rabbits takes us on an eye-opening journey in a pea-green boat through the history of picture books. From Edward Lear through to Beatrix Potter and contemporary picture books like Stick Man, Clare Pollard shines a light on some of our best-loved childhood stories, their histories and what they really mean. Because the best picture books are far more complex than they seem - and darker too. Monsters can gobble up children and go unnoticed, power is not always used wisely, and the wild things are closer than you think. Sparkling with wit, magic and nostalgia, Fierce Bad Rabbits weaves in tales from Clare's own childhood, and her re-readings as a parent, with fascinating facts and theories about the authors behind the books. Introducing you to new treasures while bringing your childhood favourites to vivid life, it will make you see even stories you've read a hundred times afresh.
An introduction to the art of surimono, illustrated with previously unpublished examples from the Ashmolean Museum's collections.
Poems about children and the stories we tell them, about childbirth, innocence and responsibility and what it means to bring new human beings into this world.
Illustrated discussion of over 50 prints from the Ashmolean Museum's collection serving as an introduction to the life and work of Utagawa Hiroshige. The art and process of Japanese wood-block print making is also covered.
Ovid's poems voiced by female figures from Greek and Roman myth in new 21st century versions, with a cast of women who are brave, bitchy, sexy, suicidal, horrifying, heartbreaking and surprisingly modern.
Clare Pollard's fourth collection is steeped in folktale and ballads, and looks at the stories we tell about ourselves. From the Pendle witch-trials in 17th-century Lancashire to the gangs of modern-day east London, Changeling takes on our myths and monsters. Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Clare Pollard's third collection is a book about journeys and home. She looks closely at both global issues and the blossom in her yard.