Beans in Snow is a stunning exploration of the world of childhood, its consolations and cruelties, real and imagined.

Like Angela Carter, Liz Lochhead and Vicki Feaver, Jennifer Copley is fascinated by the way we act out stories from childhood in our adult lives. Trying to find her brother after his death, she becomes Gerda, Gretel and the goose-girl, making sense of his death in memory, imagination and in the power of story-telling.

Beans in Snow is not just a brilliant and original re-working of some well-known fairy-tales, it is a book with something profound to say about childhood and growing up, about fear and belief, and about our enduring need for happy endings.

“Charming, sensuous and disturbing.”
Carol Rumens

"Copley uses fairy tales to explore the darker sides of childhood and adult sexuality as metaphors, and as surreal retellings with new twists... Copley utilises her source material with cruel humour and bleak relish... A dark and powerful potion of a book."
Mslexia

Jennifer Copley was born in Barrow-in-Furness, where she still lives. She has published two pamphlets, Ice and House by the Sea, plus a full-length collection Unsafe Monuments. In 2005 she was South Cumbria’s Poet Laureate. In 2006 she was the national winner in the Ottakar’s/Faber Poetry Competition. Her work appeared in The Forward Prize Anthology 2008.