Stepmother

‘We’re familiar with art as an ‘act of love’ but sometimes it’s also an act of life, of living itself; a book that must be written in order to live. In this utterly remarkable collection, Helen Mort builds a home, and a skin: a shape-shifting, porous house in which the poet, and everyone she loves, might live in the fullest sense of the word’

Caroline Bird, author of THE AIR YEAR

'After becoming a stepmother herself, Helen Mort begins to question the narrative about their supposed 'wickedness'. Whether retelling fairytales or analysing contemporary porn, I was enchanted by her blend of generous lyric and furious cultural critique. A spell for seeing differently’

Clare Pollard, author of THE MODERN FAIRIES

'Brave, graceful and absolutely vital — Mort shoulders away the old trope of the stepmother and replaces her with a host of humane women who undertake the complicated, skillful, often powerless work of loving children. All the difficulties, privileges and rewards of remade families are in this collection; so is extraordinary sorority amid the minefields'

Sarah Hall, author of HELM

Mort demonstrates commitment to sharing an excruciating truth… Where neat answers falter, messy love persists

Observer

‘A twisting, turning tale of what and who a stepmother is and can be. Spell-binding, aching, eerie and enchanting’

Rachel Long, author of Sparrow on the Rooftop

Mort’s poems are a vivid compendium of stories, but they also offer ways of escaping the trap of myth

Guardian