Sins of the Leopard

Reviews / Votes

In Brookes's hands, "Britain is real again", suddenly lit up by the fierce glint of a scouring intelligence. -- Andrew McCulloch * TLS * James Brookes writes a wonderfully rich and achieved poetry which reminds me our very best practitioners such as Geoffrey Hill and David Harsent. His profound knowledge of the resources of English history and its protean language does not, however, mean he works with a restricted scope; it is a grounding for his investigation of the world's strange treasurehouse conducted with such a challenging and imaginative musical power it is hard to believe that 'Sins of the Leopard' is his first full collection. -- Ian Duhig James Brookes, a recent Gregory Award winner, gets graphically muscular purchase on the bloody business of English history in his impressive debut ... In Brookes's hands, "Britain is real again", suddenly lit up by the fierce glint of a scouring intelligence, brought grippingly alive in a language that combines Anglo-Saxon clout with Latinate gravitas. This is in every sense a generous book from a generously gifted young poet. -- Andrew McCulloch * TLS * The weight of each line here, each clause and syllable, is perfectly judged. That phrase `dirigible angel' is a mark of Brookes' talent - it is at once lyrical, sonically logical and completely surprising. There is a strictness too, strongly evoking the poetry of Geoffrey Hill, as well as a playfulness more reminiscent of Paul Muldoon at his riddling best. -- Tom Chivers * Hand + Star Review * In Brookes's hands, "Britain is real again", suddenly lit up by the fierce glint of a scouring intelligence. -- Andrew McCulloch * TLS * James Brookes writes a wonderfully rich and achieved poetry which reminds me our very best practitioners such as Geoffrey Hill and David Harsent. His profound knowledge of the resources of English history and its protean language does not, however, mean he works with a restricted scope; it is a grounding for his investigation of the world's strange treasurehouse conducted with such a challenging and imaginative musical power it is hard to believe that 'Sins of the Leopard' is his first full collection. -- Ian Duhig James Brookes, a recent Gregory Award winner, gets graphically muscular purchase on the bloody business of English history in his impressive debut ... In Brookes's hands, "Britain is real again", suddenly lit up by the fierce glint of a scouring intelligence, brought grippingly alive in a language that combines Anglo-Saxon clout with Latinate gravitas. This is in every sense a generous book from a generously gifted young poet. -- Andrew McCulloch * TLS * The weight of each line here, each clause and syllable, is perfectly judged. That phrase `dirigible angel' is a mark of Brookes' talent - it is at once lyrical, sonically logical and completely surprising. There is a strictness too, strongly evoking the poetry of Geoffrey Hill, as well as a playfulness more reminiscent of Paul Muldoon at his riddling best. -- Tom Chivers * Hand + Star Review *