Product Description
Emerald
Author: Ruth Padel
Format: Paperback
An elegy to a lost mother, Emerald is the moving new collection from prize-winning poet Ruth Padel
'Here in deep earth, the black
blossom of mourning still sifting within me
I remembered that emerald was my birthstone ...'
Prize-winning poet Ruth Padel's heartfelt new collection is a grief observed: an elegy for her mother on her death at the age of ninety-seven.
Exploring the riches of emerald lore, Padel follows the glint of green - 'green for awakening / for bringing life back from the dead' - from memories of her mother, a naturalist, to the black honeycomb of a Colombian emerald mine and sunset-pink of the Emerald City, Jaipur. Beneath everything shines the jewel itself, 'the only stone in which the flaws are prized'.
Beautifully carved and cadenced, Emerald is a moving chronicle of value and loss, and a celebration of all that is precious in the life that remains.
About the Author
Ruth Padel is a prize-winning poet, author of thirteen acclaimed poetry collections and prose works including much-loved books on reading contemporary poetry, a travel-memoir on wild tiger conservation, and a study of the influence of Greek myth on rock music. Awards include a British Council Darwin Now Award, a Travel Bursary and Cholmondley Award from The Society of Authors, and First Prize in the National Poetry Competition. She is Professor of Poetry at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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