Why are certain subjects so difficult to talk about? What is justice? Why do writers think that other people’s lives are fair game? And what do we really know about the first chemist?

A story about history, women, science (and also the demonic); a crime story, based upon a true crime; a realist satire of the supposedly sex-savvy; and a story exploring lies, and the space between the real and the unreal. Welcome to the worlds of Lucy Sussex, and to her many varied modes.

Pay attention to this woman! Turn these pages! Here be monsters and mysteries and marvels. – Karen Joy Fowler

Table of Contents

• Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler


• Alchemy


• Fountain of Justice


• The Story of O


• Thief of Lives