Wise Children (1991), Carter's last novel, is also considered one of her best. Telling the story of twin sisters who are showgirls, the novel is an ironic and comic comment on family, theater, and the place of Shakespeare in Western culture.

Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book (1987), a set of classic, folkloric fairy tales from around the world, collected and edited by Carter, centers on the struggles and triumphs of female protagonists.

Spells of Enchantment (1991), edited by Jack Zipes, is an extensive collection of fairy tales from the Western tradition, spanning the contributions of Ancient Greek antecedents and contemporary revisions.

The Tales of Hoffman (1990), a recent anthology of nineteenth-century German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann's bizarre and grotesque tales, was translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Hoffmann's in- fluential and unsettling stories inspired psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's theory of "The Uncanny."

Red as Blood...