Review
Twelve first-rate stories collected by a modern mistress of magic: not only "turnings," but yearnings, leanings, and spurnings - twists of fate, tables turned, and the hidden revealed. Belief in evil attracts evil (Douglas Hill); a goddess seeking a daughter causes another daughter to seek a mother (Tanith Lee); an old story about innocence betrayed leads to a new loss of innocence (Westall). In Gary Kilworth's tale, the possessed becomes the possessor. Jones herself relates how a wolf turns master when a master turns wolf; and Mary Rayner describes a medieval monk's extraordinary vision of peace: an 80's rock festival. Other notably inventive contributors include Helen Cresswell, Roger Zelazny, and Terry Patchett. Though the stories here vary from subtle and poetic to conventional and prosiac, all of them should entertain literate young adults - or indeed anyone with imagination and a love of language. (Kirkus Reviews)
