Mineke Schipper is a successful novelist as well as a writer of fascinating non-fiction books. Her new novel stars Laura and Daniel, both around 50 years old, both academics (he a professor of Classics, she a specialist in ancient cultures, in particular stories of Paradise), both in their own different ways beginning life anew. Daniel because he has never really lived and through his journey in the novel finds a way to leave his traumas behind. Laura because she finally breaks away from the memory of her dead husband, the great love of her life and famous war photographer Robert. Drawing powerful parallels between Vietnam and the war in Iraq (Daniel is a Vietnam veteran) this is a tale about love, loss, parting, new beginnings, lust for life, art and knowledge and stories to live by.

Material: Dutch finished copies.
Sales: Prometheus NL (publication April 2007)

The Sena in Malawi and Mozambique have a proverb: 'Never marry a wife with bigger feet than your own.' And the Chinese have an astonishingly similar message. In cultures all over the world, the ideal woman has been depicted in proverbial form - in the author's words, "the world's smallest literary genre". This extensive corpus of proverbs from 245 languages delineates the feminine ideal and vilifies her fear-inducing counterpart - the talented, intelligent, powerful, defiant, or occult woman.

Proverbs perpetuate contrasting views of men and women. Men are inexorable tyrants, shameless profiteers, as well as insecure, fearful beings. Women are lamentable victims, and yet extremely powerful. These contradictions are exposed directly and surreptitiously in proverbs, a language in which very little appears to change and yet change is constant as male and female roles and domains become increasingly integrated.

Structured to represent the focus of the proverb genre, NEVER MARRY A WOMAN WITH BIG FEET collates and draws global conclusions from the experience of woman both interculturally and physically – women's bodies, both in terms of different parts of the body and its beautification; phases of life, from girls to brides, wives, co-wives, widows, mother-in-law, grandmothers; women's basics of life, such as love, sex, pregnancy and childbirth; female power. This is a stylish critical anthology, a unique and incomparable resource.

Material: Finished copies of UK (422 pages) and Amsterdam University Press (350 pages) editions.

Sales: Yale University Press (hardback UK and USA); Amsterdam University Press (paperback abridged UK and USA) Spectrum Holland; Oceano World Spanish; New Star China (simplified characters); Eichborn Verlag Germany; Astrel-sPb Russia; Dar El Shorouk Egypt (Arabic Language Rights); Partvonal Kiado Hungary; Bookscope Korea; Sudoeste Portugal; Editions Philippe Rey France (abridged version).

'This is an entertaining, adroit examination of how far woman has come in man's estimation, and how far she still has to go.' Publishers Weekly

'[A] fascinating analysis of more than 15,000 proverbs...an engrossing book.' Times Literary Supplement

'...a lively and sharply pointed book....Feminist authors and teachers will be analyzing and gratefully quoting her material for at least a generation.' National Post, Canada

'...enthralling, amusing and alarming in equal measures.' Conscience Magazine

Also shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2004

Here are some example proverbs, many more of which can be found in NEVER MARRY A WOMAN WITH BIG FEET:

A husband at home is like a flea in your ear. (Spanish, Chile)
No evil is as bad as a mother-in-law. (Greek)
Free of her lips, free of her hips. (English)
The thicker the veil, the less it’s worth lifting. (Turkish)
Woman may govern heart and pan, cup and head are for the man. (German)
God protect us from hairy women and beardless men. (Arabic)
Women reason with the womb. (Italian)
An old man who marries a young woman buys a newspaper for others to read it. (Portuguese, Brazil)
Every woman is beautiful in the dark, from a distance, and under an umbrella. (Japanese)
She who offers a half-cooked meal is better than she who offers her buttocks. (Rwanda)
One lame son is more valuable than eighteen golden daughters. (China)
A woman’s heart sees more than men’s eyes (Swedish)
The mouth is a rose, and the tongue a thorn. (Hungarian)
A fat woman is a quilt for the winter. (Multani, India)
A pretty face is a punishment. (Estonia)

MINEKE SCHIPPER is professor of intercultural literary studies at the University of Leiden. Her previous books, novels and works of non-fiction have been published in the UK, USA, France and Germany. She is currently at work on a novel and a book of creation myths.