Fabulous
Stories

From the author of the “sophisticated and erudite” Peculiar Ground (Boston Globe), comes a collection of classic, witty fables, elegantly updated for our modern times.

It’s in the nature of myth to be infinitely adaptable.Set in modern Britain, the startlingly original stories in Fabulous draw from Greco-Roman myth, bible stories, and folklore. The biblical stories of Mary Magdalene and Joseph are retold with a sex worker and an immigrant, Orpheus is reimagined through the eyes of an elderly musician battling dementia and grieving the death of his wife, and Cupid and Psyche gain new relevance in the tale of a young librarian so decorous her parents worry she’ll never find love.The characters in Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s dazzling collection are ordinary people. Though their stories are derived from ancient tales, they live in the present and grapple with troubling issues such as human trafficking, homelessness, government failures, and sexual harassment. Sharply observant of everyday life, these darkly imaginative modern fables explore potent mysteries and hidden passions with the hallucinatory beauty and horror of their original sources.