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Twenty- five members of Harpenden Writers have contributed to this anthology
of poetry and prose, which was published in 2007 to celebrate the writing group's tenth anniversary.
Reviews
"The variety of work included is a tribute both to the high standards set by the group and the success of its
members in meeting them. What I have particularly admired is the craftsmanship on display.
Amongst the poems. along with some effective, carefully patterned free verse, can be found an extremely accomplished and moving
sonnet, a cautionary tale which updates Hilaire Belloc, a fine haiku which follows the syllabic rules, a set of engagingly candid children's questions and an affectionately
observed portrait of an elderly woman whose shoe laces are "knotted with a double knot" - the kind of precise, telling
observation which informs much of the prose as well. ...What the American poet William Carlos Williams calls "the
bite of the actual" is there in both sections of the anthology. So, too, is the promise of much more to come, whether
it be the continuation of a novel, the first chapter of which sets a seemingly sinister plot in motion, or the stylish playfulness
of the writer who claims to have disovered his talent as a middle-aged child." John Mole (poet and
critic)
" ....... a hugely impressive collection
of prose pieces, encompassing a delightful mixture of styles and forms. The reader is plunged into a whirl of vivid
settings, from the cluttered byways of a Moroccan souk to a chilly wartime Arctic, from the bathhouse of a Roman outpost to
an airy English hillside, where a skylark sings. Containing blackly comic vignettes, emotive reminiscences, dramatic
short stories and continuous shifts of atmosphere, the variety is exhilarating and a testimony to the range of talent on offer.
Highly recommended." Jonathan Stroud (author of The Bartimaeus Trilogy)