The Face in the Well

Reviews / Votes

'Watts has long known that poetry succeeds not through its themes, but through its ability to convey precisely complexities of thought and feeling. Poets fail when they dumb down their work or confuse readers through obfuscation. The Face in the Well is a reminder of how a poem's voice might go about convincing us while steering clear of cliche: accuracy of tone and diction, without diminishment of idea or emotion.'

Ben Wilkinson,The TLS 'Watts's third collection is a formally wide-ranging delight that packs an astonishing variety into its 60 or so pages. Among the most striking poems here are the first-person conjurings of childhood memories, in which the Suffolk-born poet adroitly reconstructs those snapshots that last a lifetime. This is a perfect volume to keep in your pocket on a day of travel.'
'Best summer books of 2025: Poetry', Financial Times 'With The Face in the Well, Rebecca Watts advances from being a highly promising poet to a place among the finest formalists in English. Not the formalism of nostalgia or decorum, but that of a sculptor, exquisitely dauntless, vivid and alert. When the shapes make this much sense the very breath can be heard and the spaces come alive, raising into view a trembling dream-England of old songs and books, pictures and creatures, the past and the lost tapping on the shoulders of every passing moment, forming new and unforgettable visions of our time.'

Glyn Maxwell 'Childhood memories, the shaping influences of poets and teachers, the vulnerabilities of becoming a woman in a patriarchal world blow through our ken like rolling of the fishing nets and hazelling of the fields. The Face in the Well is a force that drives a fuse through blood and water, nature and the affairs of humanity.'

Debasish Lahiri, Everybody's Reviewing 'Precision, wit, and quiet profundity ... the collection as a whole is evidence that Watts is now truly amongst the most interesting poets out there.'

Chris Edgoose, Wood Bee Poet