hiding in the bookshelves #1

In lieu of the friday find feature I've been doing off and on I thought it might be interesting to instead feature books that we have collecting dust around the house. This could be useful on a number of different levels. It'll help me rediscover what I already have and it will hopefully inspire me to either read or release bookcrossing-style (or read and release) the books I feature right away.

So, without further ado, the first book I've selected, this one from a bookcase dedicated to bookcrossing books I've picked up...

The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

A startling tale of the redemptive power of physical and emotional love.
One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother's wedding dress. The next morning her world is shattered. Forced to leave the comfortable home of her childhood, she is sent to London to live with relatives she has never met: Aunt Margaret, beautiful and speechless, and her brothers, Francie, whose graceful music belies his clumsy nature, and the volatile Finn, who kisses Melanie in the ruins of the pleasure gardens. And brooding Unlce Philip loves only the life-sized wooden puppets he creates in his toyshop. This classic gothic novel established Angela Carter as one of our most imaginative writers and augurs the themes of her later creative work.

The novel's opening line:
"The summer she was fifteen, Melanie discovered she was made of flesh and blood."

Ok, I think this one is definitely worth a read especially considering that I remember it coming highly recommended.