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Sexing the Cherry
Sexing the Cherry
Jan 1, 2026 12:15 AM

Author:Jeanette Winterson

Sexing the Cherry

'A book of innocence and bawdiness, fury and joy...needs to be read and re-read' The Times

On the banks of the Thames a baby is found floating. Rescued by the Dog-Woman, a giant strong enough to fling an elephant into the air, their lives together will take them on a dizzying journey through space and time.

As past and present collapse and centuries overlap, love, sex, truth, lies and twelve dancing princesses take centre stage.

'Entrancing...fabulous... Its language retains the clear music of poetry' Sunday Telegraph

'Simple prose shows the subtlest of minds behind it, swift, confident and dazzling' Financial Times

'Her stories and characters levitate off the page into dancing life... A bold, bizarre and timely book' Independent

Reviews

A book of innocence and bawdiness, fury and joy...needs to be read and re-read

—— The Times

Read it and marvel. Jeanette Winterson's voice is startlingly original, and her imaginative feats are utterly dazzling

—— Cosmopolitan

Simple prose shows the subtlest of minds behind it, swift, confident and dazzling

—— Financial Times

Winterson juggles past and present, fantasy and reality, to produce an original and entertaining novel which invites us to re-examine our own perceptions of time

—— Sunday Times

Her stories and characters levitate off the page into dancing life... A bold, bizarre and timely book

—— Independent

Her strangest and most challenging fiction

—— The Times

It runs on the fuel of imagination...highly entertaining...an exploration of the elasticity of time and reality

—— The Times

If mind-warping literature is your thing, read this book, then read it again

—— Christopher Byrd , San Francisco Chronicle

A bright star on the firmament of European literature

—— Le Monde

Creator of a universe that's caught between dream and reality, Cartarescu is a revelation

—— El Pais

Romania's leading novelist and poet. . . Cartarescu's phantasmagorical world is similar to Dalí's dreamscapes

—— Kirkus

Sorrowland is a raw, powerful, and visceral read. Nature, joy, science, belonging, human metamorphosis, generational oppression, strength, and sheer lust for life: if Toni Morrison, M. Night Shyamalan, and Marge Piercy got together they might, if they were lucky, produce something with the unstoppable exhilaration of this novel. Sorrowland is sui generis.

—— Nicola Griffith, author of Hild

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon contains so much wisdom and insight, wrapped in an abundance of passion and fury and tenderness. There is so much going on in this book: the spectre of what happens when rebellion is co-opted, our longstanding practice of using Black bodies for cruel and unethical experiments, the audacity of queer love. The arc of this book takes Vern and her babies away from civilization and then back to it - but they return changed, and they change everyone else, and this book restored my faith in our potential to transform just when I needed it most.

—— Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

Lee Child on An Unkindness of Ghosts: Immediately immersive and sophisticated. This is a phenomenal piece of work.

—— Lee Child

On An Unkindness of Ghosts: Solomon debuts with a raw distillation of slavery, feudalism, prison, and religion that kicks like rotgut moonshine...Stunning.

—— Publishers Weekly

Infused with the spirit of Octavia Butler and loaded with meaning for the present day, An Unkindness of Ghosts will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Solomon's impassioned, speculative, literary book is sorely needed on library shelves.

—— Booklist

On An Unkindness of Ghosts: What Solomon achieves with this debut - the sharpness, the depth, the precision - puts me in mind of a syringe full of stars. I want to say about this book, its only imperfection is that it ended.

—— NPR

Dark and magical, Sorrowland is a fantastical tale that grapples with America's history of racism and marginalised communities

—— I Paper

Solomon captures Vern's journey in a gripping narrative that is equal parts speculative fiction and Gothic tale, all while unravelling a fictional world that is not dissimilar to our own, particularly in its depiction of racism and white supremacy.

—— TIME MAGAZINE (Europe)

Solomon's most powerful work yet.

—— The New York Times

SORROWLAND is a highly atmospheric, addictive read.

—— The White Review

[A]bsurdly well-researched, prescient and pin-sharp [...] so definitely pick it up'

—— Sirin Kale

[I]t's thrillingly, DELICIOUSLY fascinating about How We Live Now. She's a MINE of information- philosophy, science, literature, stats, all pulled together in her coolly elegant prose. I could not put it down!

—— Marian Keyes

These 242 pages are an (exhaustive, though not depressing) middle-finger to the word 'should'. A word which justifies women feeling the need to constantly scrutinise every decision; in the name of self-improvement, in order to have the Best Life Possible, at a hundred miles an hour.

—— Buro247

Energetic and compelling.

—— Olivia Sudjic

Sykes stays true to "High Low" form by using a high-low mix of vocabulary ... We have all had moments of asking ourselves if we are doing "this" - gestures vaguely - right, which makes the book all the more likeable. This is a form of learning how to succeed by failing - as it admits to being human.

—— Best non-fiction books about failure , Independent

Pandora is my personal guru on all things relating to the zeitgeist. How lucky you are that she can now be yours too.

—— Dolly Alderton

This will spark a thousand conversations and encourage us to find our own path to contentment.

—— Best nonfiction books of 2020 , Topshop

Hailed as a manifesto for modern women ... packed with her trademark wit, wisdom and philosophical references (if you know her, you know), this book is the opposite of doom and gloom. Instead, her judgement free observations are reassuring, comforting and wholeheartedly uplifting.

—— Marie Claire

A moving and captivating tale of survival and hope in a war-torn country, and confirms Mohamed's stature as one of Britain's best young novelists

—— Stylist on The Orchard of Lost Souls

A heartfelt story, handled so carefully and empathetically

—— Aisling Bea

Because Of You is a tale told with warmth by a storyteller who never takes herself too seriously

—— Sunday Express

Heartbreaking but redemptive, and lightened by French's trademark humour, this is a compelling read that will keep you poised between laughter and tears

—— Daily Mail

A tantalising story of motherhood told with Dawn French's signature warmth

—— Sainsbury's Magazine

As ever, even in the darkest of times, Dawn has found humour to inject into her novel

—— Best

A brilliant book

—— Good Housekeeping

The life-affirming and unmissable new novel

—— Eastern Daily Press

A tale told with warmth

—— Daily Record

While Dawn French's latest novel contains a dash of humour, it's also heart-wrenching

—— The Hunsbury Handbook

A fabulous emotional tearjerker of a novel

—— Silversurfers

Praise for Dawn French

—— -

Hilarious and brilliant

—— Woman & Home

I adored According to YES. It's so different to anything I've read in forever, so charming, wise, brilliantly written. I loved it all

—— Marian Keyes

Witty and wise, it'll have you burning the midnight oil. A cracker

—— Woman's Weekly

Very funny and packs an emotional clout. Brilliant!

—— Heat

An enlightening and feel-good read offering a fresh look at life and how to embrace it. Funny and enjoyable to the end

—— We Love This Book

There is lots of fun to be had reading this book. It's impossible not to warm to Rosie, a funny and open-hearted woman who acts as a salve and comfort blanket for this unhappy, inhibited family. There's something quite joyous about the way she unashamedly romps her way through the novel, changing the lives of those around her for the better

—— Express

Another hilarious novel!

—— Bella

French can spin a yarn . . . which sets According to YES apart. Think the vicar of Dibley, without the dog collar. YES YES YES indeed

—— Independent

Wise and poignant

—— Beyond the Joke

Heart-warming

—— Choice Magazine
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