Identical twin sisters who live in the city of Entralia, Irva and Alva feel each other's emotions and think each other's thoughts as they construct a model of the city on a scale that will accommodate the desires of both sisters.

The city of Entralla âe" along with Gondal, Brobdingnag and the Emerald City âe" is not somewhere you are likely to have visited. Only one guidebook to the place exists, despite its historic landmarks and the considerable civic pride of its inhabitants. Alva and Irva are identical twin sisters, and Entralla is their home. By nature, Alva is an explorer, and longs to travel the world. Irva is a recluse, for whom every step outside the house is an ordeal. But the twins belong together and cannot survive without each other. It is when Irva refuses to leave the house at all that the major work of their lives begins: Alva wanders the city streets, observing, taking notes, measuring, and reporting her findings to Irva, who painstakingly recreates a miniature Entralla. In Alva and Irva, Edward Carey takes the reader on an enchanting journey through a city of the imagination; the twins are mesmerizing heroines whose conflicting desires contain the seeds of both their destruction and their salvation.

A fairy tale for our times about the worlds we inhabit and the worlds we contain, from the astonishing new voice who introduced us to the strange and marvellous world of Observatory Mansions. Alva and Irva Dapps are identical twin sisters. They live in the city of Entralla, not a place you are likely to have visited. Alva is by nature an explorer; she longs to travel the world. Irva is a recluse, for whom a step outside the house is an ordeal. But the twins belong together -- they feel each other’s feelings, think each other’s thoughts, suffer together, love together and hate together -- they cannot survive without each other. Since childhood, the twins have built fantastical cities of Plasticine. But when Irva finally refuses to leave the house at all, the major work of their lives begins. Alva, attempting to return Irva to life, brings the city of Entralla into their home; she wanders its streets, observing, taking notes, measuring, and reports her findings to Irva, who painstakingly constructs a miniature Entralla of Plasticine. And the model city comes to serve Entralla in a way its creators could never have imagined. In Alva & Irva, Edward Carey takes the reader on an enchanting journey through a city of the imagination, with unforgettable heroines whose conflicting desires contain the seeds of both their destruction and their salvation.

The city of Entralla - along with Gondal, Brobdingnag and the Emerald City - is not somewhere you are likely to have visited. Only one guidebook to the place exists, despite its historic landmarks and the considerable civic pride of its inhabitants. Alva and Irva are identical twin sisters, and Entralla is their home. By nature, Alva is an explorer, and longs to travel the world. Irva is a recluse, for whom every step outside the house is an ordeal. But the twins belong together and cannot survive without each other. It is when Irva refuses to leave the house at all that the major work of their lives begins: Alva wanders the city streets, observing, taking notes, measuring, and reporting her findings to Irva, who painstakingly recreates a miniature Entralla. In Alva and Irva, Edward Carey takes the reader on an enchanting journey through a city of the imagination; the twins are mesmerizing heroines whose conflicting desires contain the seeds of both their destruction and their salvation.

A fairy tale for our times about the worlds we inhabit and the worlds we contain, from the astonishing new voice who introduced us to the strange and marvellous world of Observatory Mansions. Alva and Irva Dapps are identical twin sisters. They live in the city of Entralla, not a place you are likely to have visited. Alva is by nature an explorer; she longs to travel the world. Irva is a recluse, for whom a step outside the house is an ordeal. But the twins belong together -- they feel each other's feelings, think each other's thoughts, suffer together, love together and hate together -- they cannot survive without each other. Since childhood, the twins have built fantastical cities of Plasticine. But when Irva finally refuses to leave the house at all, the major work of their lives begins. Alva, attempting to return Irva to life, brings the city of Entralla into their home; she wanders its streets, observing, taking notes, measuring, and reports her findings to Irva, who painstakingly constructs a miniature Entralla of Plasticine. And the model city comes to serve Entralla in a way its creators could never have imagined. In Alva & Irva, Edward Carey takes the reader on an enchanting journey through a city of the imagination, with unforgettable heroines whose conflicting desires contain the seeds of both their destruction and their salvation.

"Easily the most brilliant fiction I've seen this year -- it proves the potential brilliance of the novel form." -- John Fowles, author of The Magus Observatory Mansions, once the Orme family's magnificent ancestral home set on beautiful grounds, is now a crumbling apartment block stranded on a traffic island, peopled with eccentrics. Thirty-seven-year-old Francis Orme lives in Observatory Mansions with his peculiar parents and a collection of misfits. By day he is a street performer, earning money as "a statue of whiteness" in the park, wearing white gloves to ensure that his skin never touches anything. He steals items for his museum of significant objects (996 in all), not for their monetary value but because they have been loved, often bringing grief to their erstwhile owners. His bedridden mother, Alice, who has created for herself an alternative time frame called "fiction," and his father, Francis, are among the occupants set apart from the rest of the busy city by their histories, their memories, and their relationships with the other seven inhabitants of the flats. Each of the house dwellers has his or her own story, as seen through Francis's eyes, and the careful routine and harmony of the house are shaken when along comes a new resident, the half-blind, vulnerable Anna Tap. She is sympathetic and resourceful, and slowly the desperately lonely residents begin to open up their long-closed hearts. As the delicate balance of Observatory Mansions begins to shift, Francis finds himself having to protect the secrets of his past and the sanctity of his collection, while growing emotionally closer to Anna. Hailed as no less than a tour de force, Observatory Mansions is a debut novel of immense originality--a strangely haunting landscape occupied by compelling and unforgettable characters.

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE “A strange and tender parable . . . All of Edward Carey's work is profound and delightful.” —Max Porter, author of Lanny The ingenious storyteller Edward Carey returns to reimagine a time-honored fable: the story of an impatient father, a rebellious son, and a watery path to forgiveness for the young man known as Pinocchio In the small Tuscan town of Collodi, a lonely woodcarver longs for the companionship of a son. One day, “as if the wood commanded me,” Giuseppe—better known as Geppetto—carves for himself a pinewood boy, a marionette he hopes to take on tour worldwide. But when his handsome new creation comes magically to life, Geppetto screams . . . and the boy, Pinocchio, leaps from his arms and escapes into the night. Though he returns the next day, the wily boy torments his father, challenging his authority and making up stories—whereupon his nose, the very nose his father carved, grows before his eyes like an antler. When the boy disappears after one last fight, the father follows a rumor to the coast and out into the sea, where he is swallowed by a great fish—and consumed by guilt. He hunkers in the creature’s belly awaiting the day when he will reconcile with the son he drove away. With all the charm, atmosphere, and emotional depth for which Edward Carey is known—and featuring his trademark fantastical illustrations—The Swallowed Man is a parable of parenthood, loss, and letting go, from a creative mind on a par with Gregory Maguire, Neil Gaiman, and Tim Burton.