Our Editor's Top Picks

Are you new to Folio and looking for the perfect place to start your literary journey? Look no further! We've enlisted the expertise of Tom Walker, our Publishing Director, to handpick his absolute must-reads for newcomers.

Dive into our blog and discover the perfect books to begin your Folio experience.

‘Illustrations . . . are what happens when text encounters the artist’s imagination and something is ignited’ – I love this definition by Margaret Atwood of the power of illustration. The work of the Balbusso sisters lives up to this standard in the Folio edition of The Handmaid’s Tale, one of the great books of our times.

Sometimes making a new edition of a book is an act of love, of commitment to the original text. That was certainly the case here as we delved deep into the author’s archives and worked with the Morgan Library in New York to showcase St Exupéry’s work in progress, as well as re-mastering all of his illustrations. What remains is I think the perfect edition of this perfect little book.

Illustrated by the author.

This may well be my favourite of all Folio editions. The novel itself is in part a highly intelligent examination of gender, and in part an exquisite love and adventure story. Both halves make up a superb whole, and David Lupton’s drawings suffuse it with rich tenderness.