Sheep's-Head and Babylon by Marjorie Bowen

I am very excited to announce that on 29 October Nezu Press will publish two titles by Marjorie Bowen. The first is the rare collection of short stories Sheep’s-Head and Babylon: And Other Stories of Yesterday and To-Day.

It contains eighteen tales, one half set in the past and the other set in the present (well, the 'present' that Marjorie Bowen was writing in). Some of the tales are supernatural, such as the title story, but for me the most shocking and horrific one of the collection is 'The Pond' which has no supernatural element at all. The reviewer for Time & Tide (8 November 1929) said it was 'unbearable to read and must have been almost intolerable to write'!

Anyway, here's the official description: 

Sheep’s-Head and Babylon: And Other Stories of Yesterday and To-Day, first published in 1929 by John Lane, The Bodley Head, is a collection of eighteen short stories, ranging in period from the seventeenth century to the 1920s and set in various locations, including England, Scotland, France, and Italy. The themes vary as much as the periods and settings; there are tales of the occult, of murder and tragedy, along with cynical studies of modern life. Some are cruel, others are fantastic, and all are ‘uncommonly good’ (Illustrated London News, 16 November 1929). This new edition of the collection includes a 19-page biographical essay by Gina R. Collia: ‘Margaret Campbell: The Lady with the Hundred Names’. 

ISBN-13: 978-1-917113-12-0

Hardback with dust jacket, 22.86cm x 15.24cm (6” x 9”), 350 pages

Published: 29 October 2025

The book is available to pre-order from the Nezu Press store (please click here); global shipping is available. Alternatively, it will be available from the usual online retailers soon, and you can order it from bricks-and-mortar stores.