Sailing Under False Colours

Poems from the exuberantly original viewpoint of an American in Britain, slightly skewed by her stance on 'the soggy bathmats of the Old World'.

"Shelley McAlister's work is suffused with colour, sound, light; she creates worlds in which the physical and tangible collides with dream and nightmare, and where her exuberant, energetic imagery can, at its best, make the reader gasp. She tackles big themes without forsaking the power of small, even intimate, details; acutely well-observed, often colloquial in style, this is a poet whose work feels at once accessible and surreal. This is a richly textured first collection, showcasing a poet whose wry, unflinching humour hits the spot."

CATHERINE SMITH