Böcker av Lynn Valentine

Lynn Valentine is a distinctive new voice in Scottish poetry. With hints of fairytale and gothic, she writes precise and poignant poems embracing what is often overlooked or peripheral ¿ a father who drives the snowplough, a childless woman seeking consolation from a Sheela-na-gig. This collection is alive with horses, crows, deer, and as the title suggests, bees; all points north. ¿ Jay Whittaker Enhanced by her apt and confident use of Scots, which glimmers like gold leaf throughout, Lynn Valentine¿s poems weave the ethereal with the everyday, and reveal to us a glimpse of the natural and unnatural world we stride and stumble through. From council workers to prophetic aunts, Mills and Boon to the winter solstice, the poems here are full of making do and doing without, of childhood and childlessness, of the grief of loss and the grief of absence. This is a special collection, and a wonderful debut. ¿ Aoife Lyall Lynn Valentine is a fearless writer who tackles the great unspeakables head-on ¿ bereavement, loss, childlessness, exile; and yet it¿s not death that prevails in these poems, but rather the sovereignty of life and, with all its gifts and with all its heartbreaks, the obstinate beauty of the living world.¿ John Glenday

''There is a sense of loss in many of these poems from Lynn Valentine, but never of emptiness. The writing is focussed: ties to family, ties to place, personal and shared experiences. The language is worked in such a way that it feels easy, the sounds sit comfortably in the lines, the words controlled to deliver emotional punch. Even when she steps away from the immediate, when there is a sense of otherness, Lynn Valentine observes the world from a solid place. Read these poems out loud: they''ll resonate.'' - Charlie Gracie - novelist, poet, scriever''On picking up Lynn''s pamphlet, find a comfy place to pause and read: all you have to lose is one connection at a time from your daily drudge. Allow your mind to uncouple long enough to embrace her imagery, to wander in and out of light and shade, to unpack elements of recollection with which we will all connect and through her welcome weave of Scots find new adventures to inspire you.''- Jim Mackintosh - poet, editor, Makar