Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales

About this book

A fox may step out of a human disguise; a moonlit visitor may belong to another realm; a quiet village can harbour a story older than anyone living there. Grace James gathers Japanese tales in which the extraordinary arrives without announcement.

Warwick Goble's forty colour illustrations give the collection much of its lasting enchantment, with flowing fabrics, fine outlines and careful compositions. James draws on both literary and oral material, sometimes preserving the melancholy beneath the magic. The images invite close looking, and the stories reward it with sudden changes of shape and fate.