Liz Almond’s new collection introduces us to a wide world, full of sensual pleasures but also of cruelties, pains and dangers, which she suggests we must actively face and face down if we are to live life to the full.

“Rosita Rules the Roost” illustrates some of the strengths of her writing: a powerful, instantly gripping opening, visual clarity and force, the rhythms of emphatic speech:

She howls her way up the cobbles,
demented, bereaved, demented
leans on her whittled stick –

A list of its opening lines would give an immediate impression of the sheer vitality of this work, and of how … Continue Reading