Unwritten Woman

Reviews / Votes

'Lavery expertly directs our attention to what we should see but choose not to' * The Guardian * 'This confident, distinctive collection brokers no easy peace with past or present' * The Scotsman * 'a fiercely tender exploration of women in the margins... as if Lavery's talents need any further preaching, Unwritten Woman hails her as a triumph' * The Skinny * 'a historically, thematically, and stylistically rich new collection' * The Bookseller * 'Unwritten Woman is not only the fierce work of speaking back, Lavery also creates spaces for much gentleness, love, vulnerability and calm' * Gutter Magazine, Book of the Month * 'Delicate and furious, Unwritten Woman is an instant feminist classic, and a collection that should be on every young woman's bookshelf, and beyond. It announces Lavery as a thinker of width, nuance, and challenge, asking the questions that might help us answer to ourselves. Outstanding' -- Joelle Taylor 'This collection comes at you like a lantern from the shadows. With a creak of the floorboards and wash of delight, Hannah Lavery has brought something gothic and gorgeous to life in these pages' -- William Letford 'Like the best of hard drinks, it lingers by the chesty bits with serious intent then makes its move on the heart's soft chambers. Never without its theatre, never without its thrum, through the tenderness it thrashes' -- Micheal Pedersen 'These essential poems perfectly capture the "dreadful shipwreck" of not being easily categorised as one thing or another in a world that already resists writing you into its histories. Hannah's words reveal the enormous strength required to heal that fracture' -- Marjorie Lotfi 'Unwritten Woman is an exquisite collection that highlights Hannah Lavery's masterful skills with narrative and form. Lavery's skilful hand as a playwright adds thrilling dimension to these poems, and she crafts scenes that are imbued with a stunning poetics' -- Alycia Pirmohamed 'Lavery's poems lift the woman from the margins. Often dark, sometimes hilarious, occasionally brutal, Unwritten Woman is a vital look at our culture through the lens of the other' -- Jim Monaghan 'Part a love letter to her lost father; part homage to the silent women in Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, Hannah Lavery's Unwritten Woman is a great broth of a book. A nod to Ntozake Shange with the haar coming in from the sea, Lavery takes us on a new uncharted journey. Tender and fierce. Her's is a voice to reckon with!' -- Jackie Kay 'This book is a wonder; like sitting in a roomful of flickering midnight candles gazing into the most vivid of flames; utterly illuminating. Extraordinary!' -- Hollie McNish 'Unwritten Woman is an extraordinary collection; absences revealed through erasure and attention to what is truly there. These poems are worthy of their source material. Read them' -- Louise Welsh 'a stunning retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde through the eyes of the women in the story' * Books from Scotland * 'A glorious rallying cry for us to see and hear the women in the tales we read' -- Nicola Meighan * A Kick up the Arts Podcast *