BULGARIAN-born oral storyteller, Nana Tomova, carries in her bones old tales of golden maidens and winged serpents, wise women and wild nature stretching back to ancient Thracian times, when the Great Goddess was revered. Spirits of forest and water cure and curse, the Three Fates determine destinies, a girl lets down her hair for a wolf to climb up and vampires roam the dark nights. Discover a realm of imagination and enchantment through this freshly translated collection of traditional stories, featuring Rima Staines' otherworldly illustrations.

'Told, retold and interpreted with wisdom and joy, elegantly structured to reflect the Earth's seasons, this collection of folk stories is magical in every sense. Reading these stories is like sipping fine aged wine at candle light inside a dragon's cave. It transported me to the creative dawn of Thrace, the Balkans and Bulgaria – and to my own psyche.' – Kapka Kassabova