Mischief Acts: 'Joyous' THE TIMES, Best summer reads 2022

(Paperback)

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A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR _______________ 'A work of extraordinary ambition, brilliantly realised OBSERVER 'A mesmerising journey down the byways of English folklore' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Verbally dextrous, inventive, and hugely entertaining THE TIMES _______________ Herne the hunter, mischief-maker, spirit of the forest, leader of the wild hunt, hurtles through the centuries pursued by his creator. A shapeshifter, Herne dons many guises as he slips and ripples through time at candlelit Twelfth Night revels, at the spectacular burning of the Crystal Palace, at an acid-laced Sixties party. Wherever he goes, transgression, debauch and enchantment always follow in his wake. But as the forest is increasingly encroached upon by urban sprawl and gentrification, and the world slides into crisis, Herne must find a way to survive or exact his revenge.

Reviews

Weaving together prose and poetry, myth and history, the past, present and future, its a work of extraordinary ambition, brilliantly realised * OBSERVER *
A dark-dazzling archive of enchantments, pursuit, and desire -- ELEY WILLIAMS
Inventive and subversive ... A mesmerising journey down the byways of English folklore * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
Verbally dextrous, inventive, and hugely entertaining * THE TIMES *
This is the most adventurous, stylistically magnificent thing Ive read for years. Nobody does fantasy like Zoe Gilbert -- NATASHA PULLEY
Mischief Acts is a deeply lyrical, century-spanning polyphony of voices; a dazzling new take on an ancient myth, reminding us of the wildness within. I adored it -- KERRY ANDREW
Mischief Acts is brimming with magic - full of wild hunts, river spirits and revelry. The story of Herne, like the forest itself, transforms, entangles and enchants -- LUCY WOOD
Superb. A work of shimmering allure. By turns beguiling and mercurial, Gilbert takes British folklore to new heights -- IRENOSEN OKOJIE
Praise for Folk: 'An extraordinary debut novel It feels both ancient drawing on deep seams of myth and folklore and strikingly contemporary, pushing at the edges of what we mean when we call a book a novel. In Folk, Zoe Gilbert has made a thing of strange and enduring beauty -- ALEX PRESTON * FINANCIAL TIMES *
Folk is a special book: immersive and dripping with life, each story a spell, an allegory, a dark, smoky poem divined from the landscape of our ancient kingdom It reads like a dream that, once visited, is difficult to leave behind -- BEN MYERS * GUARDIAN *
Genuinely original, disturbing, beautiful and gripping ... Folk can be read as a map of the British mythic imagination: of the river under the river. Starkly original and expertly written, it draws you, like a faerie song, into a kingdom from which you may never escape, and may not want to * NEW STATESMAN *
Dazzling and unsettling, much like the best and darkest of fairy tales * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
A dark, often discomforting debut Gilberts sensuous prose conjures fantastical figures including a man born with a wing for an arm, and a girl whos abducted by a water bull Bewitching * MAIL ON SUNDAY, BEST NEW FICTION *
Folk is absolutely stunning. I loved it. With gorgeous, incantatory prose, it submerges you in a mysterious and utterly compelling world. Its illumination lingers long after you close the book -- MADELINE MILLER
I was thoroughly absorbed. Zoe Gilberts invented folk-world is sensuous and dangerous and thick with magic -- TESSA HADLEY
That rare thing: genuinely unique. Its part-myth, part-allegory, wholly wonderful * OBSERVER, BOOKS OF THE YEAR *
A captivating mythical, magical and haunting debut which draws on fascinating folklore * I PAPER *

Author Bio

Zoe Gilbert's debut novel Folk was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and named an Observer Book of the Year. She is the winner of the Costa Short Story Award 2014. Her work has appeared on BBC Radio 4, and in anthology and journals in the UK and internationally. She has taken part in writing projects in China and South Korea for the British Council, and she is completing a PhD on folk tales in contemporary fiction. She is the co-founder of London Lit Lab, which provides writing courses and mentoring for writers. Zoe Gilbert lives on the coast in Kent.