Shine, Darling

Shine, Darling
Published : 16 Apr 2020 - Offord Road Books

Ella Frears's debut is a collection of wry, vivid poems whose power lies in their intimacy. They are as insistent as they are circumspect, drawing close to the readers ear and bringing them into confidence. The engine of SHINE, DARLING is one of strength, of fortitude in confronting and surviving the world, of a lifted-chin audacity There was pain, the speaker allows, but it was not new pain. Frears work is world-weathered rather than world-weary, delighted by service stations, f**king on bins in Cornwall, in constant communion with the moon. It lives for the power-play of people, of the pull of the sea, the smoky air Stormy, sticky with flies and tangled underbrush where the land ends. Her characters test each other, experimenting with the boundaries of physical violence, of punishment, of traps, all the while drawing the reader into a complicity that gives these poems all their daring, electrifying muscularity. In SHINE, DARLING, the desire to expose and disclose wrestles with defence and defiance. The result is exhilarating, a glorious full-bodied debut collection with the draw of an adamant tide.

Reviews

'SHINE, DARLING by Ella Frears is a stand-out members' favourite from our PBS Selections this year. Playful, wry and devastatingly good'.

Poetry Book Society

‘Frears's poems are places of feverishness, extra-sensitivity, and suggestion . . . They lightly take your pulse, then ask why it's accelerating.’

Jack Underwood

‘SHINE, DARLING is a startling debut, as provocative as it is playful and tender, navigating a wild, modern terrain touching often on female desire and glazed with dark terror. These poems are uncompromising and intelligent, fresh and newly disruptive.’

Mona Arshi

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