Time behaves differently in The House of Ghosts and Mirrors. Generations pass each other – and themselves – in rooms that appear empty; adults occupy their childhood dreams and nightmares; stories enact themselves in portraits and postcards.
Marbled with menace and mischief, with a humour as black as the cupboard under the stairs, these hard-won poems coalesce into a moving, unforgettable meditation on the passage of time; searching for certainties, and truths that are so much more than the sum of questionable facts.
'Oz Hardwick's latest collection begins with an ending and keeps on subtly subverting our expectations on every page – glass houses, mermaids, a bloodshot moon, vampires on the staircase, the 'indescribable' breath of leaves. These are unsettling, memorable, subterranean poems that walk the line between dreams and waking.' Helen Mort
'These rigorously-considered, sturdily-constructed, lyrically-written poems contain sharp personal and social insights. They display a romantic maturity which resonates long after the book has been set aside.' Michael Moorcock
'These are poems that deal with the magical and mystical while firmly rooted in the detail of memory and history. Here are acutely drawn pictures of the ways we all manage, or fail to manage, our losses. Sad in the best way, tender and hopeful, these are poems in which we can all find ourselves.' Antony Dunn
Time behaves differently in The House of Ghosts and Mirrors. Generations pass each other – and themselves – in rooms that appear empty; adults occupy their childhood dreams and nightmares; stories enact themselves in portraits and postcards.
Marbled with menace and mischief, with a humour as black as the cupboard under the stairs, these hard-won poems coalesce into a moving, unforgettable meditation on the passage of time; searching for certainties, and truths that are so much more than the sum of questionable facts.
'Oz Hardwick's latest collection begins with an ending and keeps on subtly subverting our expectations on every page – glass houses, mermaids, a bloodshot moon, vampires on the staircase, the 'indescribable' breath of leaves. These are unsettling, memorable, subterranean poems that walk the line between dreams and waking.' Helen Mort
'These rigorously-considered, sturdily-constructed, lyrically-written poems contain sharp personal and social insights. They display a romantic maturity which resonates long after the book has been set aside.' Michael Moorcock
'These are poems that deal with the magical and mystical while firmly rooted in the detail of memory and history. Here are acutely drawn pictures of the ways we all manage, or fail to manage, our losses. Sad in the best way, tender and hopeful, these are poems in which we can all find ourselves.' Antony Dunn