Stan Barstow

This latest offering from Black Bough Poetry, edited by Matthew M. C. Smith, showcases Rachel Deering‘s keen poetic voice. A familiar figure at The Broken Spine, Deering has graced the pages of The Codex and clinched the 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for her poem Birch Tree. In this collection, she invites readers into a nuanced exploration of the natural world, weaving profound connections between life, death, and the essence of human experience.

Review by Jenni O, Reviewer Last updated on 23 Jun 2022 I loved Stan Barstow's realistic gritty books when I read them in the 1960s and 70s and it was fascinating to re-read this one again in today's world. Vic is a man of his time, forced into a shotgun wedding with Ingrid, and both ending up miserable. Probably very realistic. It is good to know most men have changed their attitudes since, and the ones who have not are not flavour of the month.

Review by Chris H, Reviewer Last updated on 23 May 2022 Meet Vic Brown. He's young (about twenty) and lives at home with his coal miner father, mother and teenaged brainbox younger brother in late 1950s Yorkshire. Vic works as a draughtsman and has eyes for Ingrid, a pretty young woman who also works in his office. But when Ingrid becomes pregnant, both her and Vic's lives are transformed forever.