Like a Greek tragedy, the tale drives inexorably toward a calamitous revelation - a revelation rather heavily foreshadowed by the title and the students' syllabus. Finding them enthralled by tales of cruel fate and bloody revenge, she even begins to worry that they are taking her lessons to heart, and that a whole new tragedy is being performed, right in front of her. Published to celebrate 50 years of the feminist imprint, Virago, I enjoyed every contribution, including Sandi Toksvig’s introduction. She then proceeds to select Greek tragedies for a literature class of fifteen year olds with histories of violence, abuse, challenging behaviour - a very dangerous choice for such a class. The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter.

I loved the creativity and variety of the whole collection and as a result look forward to seeking out more of the work by some of the authors who contributed. The teens –Ricky, Jono, Carly, Annika, and particularly Mel, an astute and intelligent deaf girl whose diaries punctuate the book – are inspired by the ancient tales of guilt, vengeance and self-discovery. As Alex's boss Robert puts it: ”These children deserve to be more than their records–” I also liked how the story got a little bit into why some of these kids act up: most have extremely difficult home lives and families that have not given them any tools to handle emotional crises, many have become outcasts due to bullying and so on. Here’s my conundrum: how do I rate a book that had me eagerly turning pages well into the evening…and yet left me feeling curiously flat by the time I finished?The sense of women's complexity spills over in these pages, as the stories explore women's power, emotion, rage, calculation, flaws, humanity, and divinity, coming together to form a picture of the many traits, struggles and experiences we share across eras, cultures and continents, and yet the reader comes away remembering that for all that we have in common, everyone's story is wonderfully unique.

A FUN AND FEARLESS ANTHOLOGY OF FEMINIST TALES, to celebrate Virago's 50th birthday, featuring NEW AND ORIGINAL STORIES by Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig. Other stories take on the Wench, Hussy and Tygress – the latter in a lovely piece by Claire Kohda, whose narrator’s beloved mother is a tiger who would “always give me a long kiss on the forehead … and her whiskers would tickle my eyelids. A couple of the stories weren't my thing (Siren felt a touch heavy-handed, as though Atwood needed you to know how much she was rolling her eyes), but I either learned from them or learned about my likes and dislikes in the process.First of all, I am not entirely sure myself why this particular novel captured my imagination the way it did – but it really really did. It almost glides off the page and reads like the work of an established author, with many awards under their belt. We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from.