Cirrus@Austlit

 (Publication summary)

'This new volume from Penelope Layland absorbingly quizzes memory, while questioning our apprehension of time and the importance of deep human connections. These poems explore mourning and loss in a way that is salutary, affirmative, meditative and uplifting, subtly refracting our common understandings and our claims on knowledge. In these works the ghosted quotidian, like a long filigree of light, reaches out to remind us of what we value and care for.' (Publication summary)

'This gripping new verse novel charts the course of the espionage scandal which rocked sleepy Canberra and the nation in the mid 1950s.

'In April 1954 Australia woke up to discover that Volodya Petrov,an attaché in the Russian embassy in Canberra, was also a colonel in the KGB and was planning to defect. The Petrov Poems charts the unfolding web of intrigue between Petrov, the embassy staff, and his contacts in the West. And the crucial role of his wife Dusya, thrust into a terrible crisis of conscience as the result of her husband’s actions and her past personal history.' (Publisher's blurb)

'First...Then... is a short collection of 24 poems, mostly dramatic monlogues in various voices. The poems focus on the experience of living with autism, but you do not need to know or be an autistic person to enjoy this book. The poems are by turns moving, harrowing and laugh-out-loud funny, and provide a unique window into a much misunderstood facet of the human experience.'

Source: CircleQuirk website, http://circlequirk.wordpress.com/

Sighted: 14/10/2016