Advent Calendar December 23rd

It’s All About the Books

Doireann Ní Ghríofa‘s book is strange and beautiful. In the 18th century an Irish noblewoman drinks handfuls of blood from the body of her murdered husband and composes an extraordinary poem that reaches across the centuries to another woman.

Seamus Heaney’s doesn’t need an introduction from me. This collection was published after his death – although the idea came from him – and draws from all his books. The last poem was written to his granddaughter 22 days before he died.

I saw you years from now
(more years than I’ll be allowed)
Your toddler wobbles gone
A sure and grown woman