Metamorphosis

Gillian Petrie's debut collection. The poems deriving from memories of pre-war and wartime Britain share with those later inspired by travelling and working abroad a wonderfully sharp sense of period and place, and show a flair for unusual, often very moving, detail. Gillian Petrie has a rare ability to find a new and original angle on familiar experiences and create haunting fantasies. There is a particular poignancy – sometimes also an intriguing mystery – about the poems concerned with friendship, love, and bereavement. Metamorphosis is a rewarding and altogether absorbing collection.