In these two “astonishing” novellas ( The New Yorker ), the Booker Prize-winning author of Possession returns to the landscape of Victorian England, where science and spiritualism are popular manias, and domestic decorum coexists with brutality and perversion. "At once quirky and deep, brimming with generosity, imagination, and intelligence." — The New Yorker "delicate and confidently ironic.... Byatt perfectly blends laughter and sympathy [with] extraordinary sensuality" — San Francisco Examiner