Dearly: Poems

*GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS 2020 -- BEST POETRY* *BOOK OF THE YEAR OBSERVER* *BOOK OF THE YEAR FINANCIAL TIMES * The collection of a lifetime from the bestselling novelist poet and cultural phenomenon: Margaret Atwood. Before she became one of the worlds most important and loved novelists Margaret Atwood was a poet. Dearly is her first collection in over a decade. It brings together many of her most recognisable and celebrated themes but distilled -- from minutely perfect descriptions of the natural world to startlingly witty encounters with aliens from pressing political issues to myth and legend. By turns moving playful and wise the poems gathered in Dearly are about absences and endings ageing and retrospection but also about gifts and renewals. They explore bodies and minds in flux as well as the everyday objects and rituals that embed us in the present. Werewolves sirens and dreams make their appearance as do various forms of animal life and fragments of our damaged environment. Dearly is a pure Atwood delight and long-term readers and new fans alike will treasure its insight empathy and humour. A new volume of poetry by the writer of wit and optimism . . . Just when we needed her most Gentlewoman