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Ransom
Ransom
Nov 15, 2025 5:04 AM

Author:Michael Symmons Roberts

Ransom

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE T.S. ELIOT PRIZE 2021**

*A FINANCIAL TIMES 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK*

Ransom, the new collection from Michael Symmons Roberts, is an intense and vivid exploration of liberty and limit, of what it means to be alive, and searches for the possibility of hope in a fallen, wounded world. The poems in Ransom display all the lyrical beauty and metaphysical ambition for which his work is acclaimed, but with a new urgency, a ragged edge to what the Independent described as his 'dazzling elegance'. At the heart of this new book are three powerful sequences - one set in occupied Paris, one an elegy for his father, and one a meditation on gratitude - that work at the edges of belief and doubt, both mystical and philosophical. The idea of 'ransom' is turned and turned again, poem by poem, seen through the lenses of personal grief and loss, cinematic scenes of kidnap and release, narratives of incarnation and atonement. This is a profound and timely book from one of our finest poets.

Reviews

Wonderfully atmospheric.

—— Tristram Fane Saunders , Daily Telegraph

A formidable feast of a book... A. S. Byatt can use her extraordinary mind to probe passional conflicts more hair-raisingly well than any thriller-writer

—— Daily Telegraph

In this exuberant and vastly ambitious novel, A. S. Byatt has made both an intellectual chronicle and an intimate history... This book is about the life of art and the art of living, and its prose is charged with powerful images

—— Harpers & Queen

A remarkable book, of exceptional gravity and serious charm... it balances an acute sense of the values of art and intellect with an imaginative sympathy. Its ambition is almost unique in the English novel

—— Spectator

Sly and funny. A deeply pleasurable page-turner

—— Observer

It is Lurie, not Updike whom people will one day read to discover what our life and times were really like. Dazzling intelligent, witty, perceptive and engaging, she is not to be missed

—— New Statesman

Lurie is the reigning queen of a certain kind of academic comedy... Truth & Consequences is a deeply pleasurable page-turner

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Lurie's entertaining novel charts these symmetrical relationships with subtlety and compassion, and thoughtfully examines the balance of power between those who give and require care

—— Daily Mail

Lurie expertly maps the downward marital slope: the slow falling out of love, the undignified transformations of middle age, the interplay of eros and hypochondria... The author's satirical gifts are undiminished

—— Wall Street Journal

A story of modern love that will have readers laughing and sighing with recognition... A wry, insightful, thoroughly enjoyable tale about how men and women choose their demons and their lovers, and the sacrifices they're willing to make for both

—— Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delightful... Her characters are, as always, wonderfully imperfect

—— New York Review of Books

Dog Days is a beautiful novel, filled with poignancy and humour. Ericka Waller looks closely at life with all its ghosts and new beginnings, finding glitter in the dark and hope where there is healing.

—— Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul

A beautifully written book... it's very hard to believe it's a debut novel. Ericka Waller peels back the layers of life and delves deep into the highs and lows of mental health, of loss, and of love.'

—— NEW BOOKS MAGAZINE

This was such an emotional read and the perfect mix of humour and heartache

—— GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Both joyful and heartbreaking

—— HEAT

Deftly drawn... a warm debut about loss, healing and making new connections

—— MAIL ON SUNDAY

We loved this heartwarming story

—— CLOSER

Weaves together tales of man's best friend helping in the darkest days

—— HELLO! magazine

Waller's tormented, endearing and intriguing characters cross paths as they walk dogs on the Sussex Downs in a bittersweet, touching novel of waggy tails, wet noses and tear-filled eyes.

—— SAGA

A charming novel that focuses on the healing properties of man and woman's best friend

—— Choice Magazine

Waller has a lyrical way of weaving words that perfectly encapsulates a feeling or thought ... Funny, sad and reassuringly sage, Dog Days is a story of humanity, family and life.

—— Culturefly

A glorious read full of love and humour

—— THE IRISH EXAMINER

Combines two total opposites - sorrow and joy. The way Waller makes the two work together is outstanding

—— FEMALE FIRST magazine

A charming novel that focusses on the healing powers of man and woman's best friend

—— CHOICE Magazine

With its tightly plotted twists Dog Days is an exhilarating, at times even vertiginous ride... The mix of human passion and canine good sense works triumphantly..

—— Ed Stourton, author of Diary of a Dog Walker

'A tender, complicated novel of love, loss and self-discovery.'

—— SUSAN WILSON, New York Times bestselling author of One Good Dog and What a Dog Knows

An emotional tour-de-force that will leave you with the whole-hearted understanding that dogs really do bring people (even the most unlikely of us) together.

—— Annie England Noblin, author of Sit, Stay, Speak and Pupcakes
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