‘Fabulous.’ Dan Richards, author of Holloway

‘Terrifically strange and thrilling.’ Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley

'A modern-day bard.' Madeline Miller, author of Circe

This is a book of literary activism – an antidote to the shallow thinking that typifies our age. 

In Courting the Wild Twin, acclaimed scholar, mythologist and author of Smoke Hole and Bardskull, Martin Shaw unravels two ancient European fairy tales concerning the mysterious ‘wild twin’ located deep inside all of us. By reading these tales and becoming storytellers ourselves, he challenges us to confront modern life with purpose, courage, and creativity.

Martin summons the reader to the ‘ragged edge of the dark wood’ to seek out this estranged, exiled self – the part we generally shun or ignore to conform to societal norms – and invite it back into our consciousness. If there was something we were meant to do with our few, brief years on Earth, we can be sure that our wild twin is holding the key.

After all, stories are our secret weapons – and they might just save us.