Poetry and Prose from Anna Nicholson

The New Year begins with two books from a new publisher, Two Ravens, based in Ullapool in Wester Ross. This small press has had a very good beginning with excellent production values evident in the clutch of initial, very interesting titles. (Read their piece here on the ideas behind setting up the company.)

The first, One True Void, is by Dexter Petley, a writer who made his debut with Polygon in the nineties with the novel, Little Nineveh. This new one is Petley’s fourth novel and promises a ‘searing infra-red vision of 1970s Britain and the tragedies of class and tradition’. Set in Kent, the novel tells of 17 year old Henry Chambers, taking apart the life of a small village. Petley’s writing is hyper-lucid and quite unlike most literary novels coming out these days in its singular use of language, a kind of ‘rural’ English. Under other circumstances, Petley might be a kind of cult author. Nonetheless, he remains a underrated and unique voice in British fiction.

The second title is a collection of poetry from the first George Mackay Brown Writing Fellow. Pamela Beasant’s Running With the Snow Leopard is her first full-length collection though she’s been widely published on the small magazines scene. The poems, many set in Orkney, where the poet now lives, are spare, breezy, wry and redolent of sea, bay, wind and sky. I liked these immediately and hope this collection does well.

Difficult to ignore Burns this month and tough too for publishers to come up with new ideas to present the poet. Canongate have very cleverly recruited AndrewOHagan, an Ayrshire lad himself, to make a selection and commentary of the man’s work in A Night Out With Robert Burns: The Greatest Poems.

Barrington Stoke continue their excellent work for reluctant readers with some fine titles out this month. From the kind of feedback they’re getting from teachers, librarians and parents all over the UK, they’re becoming a national treasure. Great stories from established authors + cleverly researched design values + the correct reading level = a very successful formula. The books this month are Bomber Boys by Thomas Bloor, Ghosting by Keith Gray, Into the Storm by Stephen Potts and Tracking by Gill Harvey.

And now, the bodice-ripper: Laird of the Mist by Paula Quinn promises another Highland steamy read. (Why are so many of these books set in the Highlands? What’s wrong with setting them in Clackmannanshire? Answers on a postcard please...) Here’s the blurb: ‘High-born though she is, Kate isn't afraid to draw her sword. When raiders strike she rushes into the fray - and is lucky when a mysterious Highlander shields her from a deadly blow. Swept onto his stallion, she discovers that her rescuer is her clan's most hated enemy. They call him The Devil but his kiss is Heaven!’