Miss M., a pretty and diminutive young woman with a passion for shells, fossils, flints, butterflies and stuffed animals, struggles to deal with her isolation from the rest of society due to her size. She tells of her early life and her tempestuous twentieth year in which she witnesses death, infatuation, suicide and madness. An elegiac, misanthropic, sometimes perverse study of isolation, de la Mare's prize-winning classic is a dark and teasing riddle that seduces by its gentle charm and elegant prose.' One of the strangest and most enchanting works of fiction ever written.' Alison Lurie 'A great book.' New York Times 'For centuries to come this book will inspire imaginative people.' Rebecca West '... a triumphant work of fiction: a portrait of a complex heroine who the reader will ultimately find quite as compelling as Jane [Eyre] or Cathy'. You will be 'charmed and amazed by this odd, creepy tale.' Observer It sticks like a splinter in the mind..' Angela Carter