Reaching the Light is a book for lovers of wonderfully crafted poetry. Eveline Pye’s enlightening, painful recollections of her childhood and her relationship with an abusive mother are told with dazzling skill. As a child, she despairs, no one is trying to save me. Later comes the realisation that her own loving part is immured in stone. We are also told that daughters…with courage and time to heal…can break free. This book is therapeutic and cathartic – it may ease pain and spread understanding, especially amongst those who have suffered parental abuse.
Reaching the Light is a survivor’s collection and should be read as widely as possible.
(Johnny Woods, retired Consultant Psychiatrist, Glasgow)
£9.00
Jim Ferguson has ten books of poetry already under his belt and this latest collection is a most welcome addition to his vast repertoire. A particular favourite is Domestic Day, a slow meandering through house-hold chores that Ferguson turns into pleasures, whilst the making of soup becomes a meditation in nourishment, soup wae wine, a Vikings shield against the snowfall.
Songs for Lara is more than just a love story, it’s a story of love found between the lines, or in the secret places where we sometimes fear to venture.
(Donna Campbell, poet)
£10.00Add to basket
'Essays, poems and biographical writing from the most respected of Scottish writers, the late Janet Paisley celebrate and illuminate the range and depth of her art.' (Anne Donovan).
£10.00Add to basket
The three poets in this collection have a lot in common. They’re gritty, tough, their observation is born of personal experience, not all of it pleasant. That is recommendation enough but there are many moments too of pure revelation. Donna Campbell’s pearls brimming with moonlight that are the bi-product of pain, the stark beauty of Lesley Benzie’s poem about a father’s death ‘Fan she an her sester met their faither’s unbent gaze…’ and Linda Jackson picking up ‘petals of words from smart-dressed lovers’. Such simple beauty is not easily achieved. At its best poetry can be both empathetic and transformative. This is it, at its best.
(Hugh McMillan, poet)
£10.00Add to basket
‘More superb poetry from Donna Campbell. Looking for Mae West pulses with life. Her focus ranges from rural hardship to disappointments in love, from sensual exhortations to fierce castigation. This is what we expect from her now, after her wonderful first collection, Mongrel - in every word you see Donna’s smile, hear her confident assertion.
The thing about Donna Campbell is: she a truth-teller, as much about herself as other people. Her poems are always forceful but never brutal – it’s a good trick that, even when she’s telling brutal things.'
(Charlie Gracie, writer)
£10.00Add to basket