A review by oldenglishrose
Wayward Girls and Wicked Women by Angela Carter

2.0

Although I really enjoy Angela Carter's own short stories, evidently I'm not as keen on her choice of those of other writers. Perhaps it was the collection of so many female-centred stories in one book, but I did feel that I was being beaten over the head with conspicious feminism a lot of the time, as strings of women were driven to the titular 'wickedness' through the opressive situations in which they found themselves rather than any real fault of their own. The tone of the book seems to ask "but what else could they have done?" which, while it's an interesting perspective to read from, did get a little wearing.

That complaint aside, there were some stories that I really enjoyed. The folk tale style of the story of Lena and Una, complete with typical folk justice, was particularly good and the haunting story of the Okes of Okehampton reminded me of Daphne du Maurier. All in all, an interesting collection, but not one I think I'm likely to read again.