Helen Dunmore’s final collection of poetry received the Costa Poetry Book of the Year in 2017, an award which was given posthumously. The collection’s theme is necessarily bound up with the idea of mortality, of humanity and our capacity to cope with the devastation of factors beyond our control.
Whilst there is a sombre tone which can make for some difficult reading, there is also Dunmore’s skilled ability to inspire hope, to find beauty in the haunting starkness of being on the edge of life. This is a pensive collection, inspiring the notion of looking back but also, looking forward towards the inevitability of what is to come.
