In the Quaker Hotel

The Quaker Hotel is a collection of poems by Helen Tookey that explore the world and our place in it,questioning who will come after us and how they will see things.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 110 pages
Publication date: 26 May 2022
Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd

In the title poem, the speaker finds themselves seated by the window of a modest hotel room, a space that serves as a transitional realm, bridging the gap between memory and the realm of possibilities. Nestled within the Quaker Hotel, the poems bristle with inquiries about the world, drawing their essence from the natural world. They embark on a journey, traversing recognizable landscapes such as Merseyside, north Wales, Nova Scotia, and southern France, before venturing into unconventional and tilted realms that exist beyond the confines of our immediate reality. As temporary guests in these places and in our own lives, we ponder the question of who will follow in our footsteps, how they will perceive the world, and who will tend to the bees in the communal garden?

Helen Tookey, in her earlier works like Missel-Child (Carcanet, 2014, shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize) and City of Departures (Carcanet, 2019, shortlisted for the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Collection), showcases a remarkable exploration of form and theme. Through her poetic craftsmanship, she invites readers to embark on a sensory journey that intertwines the tangible and the intangible, challenging our perceptions and inviting us to contemplate the intricacies of existence.

Weight: 156g
Dimension: 135 x 216 x 10 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800171824