Released 30th September, 2023 // 54 pages // 978-1-915760-35-7 // RRP £8.99
 
On her shelves Penelope Shuttle found several Old English dictionaries belonging to her late husband Peter Redgrove, which she studied until their strange and mysterious vocabulary found its way into a sequence of poetry. Here Shuttle's writing of animals, based upon a reading of a medieval mystery play about Noah and The Deluge, is connected and intertwined with current environmental concerns. The magic and richness of biblical stories is present as mythology rather than theology, and Noah sees Penelope Shuttle utilise the title character as a critique of patriarchal attitudes, particularly in regard to Emzara, Noah’s wife. This is a remarkable work that brings the past into the present, and reimagines a better future.
 
ABOUT Penelope Shuttle:
Penelope Shuttle lives in Cornwall. Lyonesse appeared from Bloodaxe Books in June 2021, and was Observer Poetry Book of the Month. Covid/Corvid, a pamphlet written with Alyson Hallett, was published by Broken Sleep Books, September 2021. Shuttle has received an Eric Gregory Award, and a Cholmondeley Award. Redgrove’s Wife, (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Award, and for The Forward Prize. Lyonesse was recently long-listed for the Laurel Prize. She is working on a new full-length collection, History of the Child.