Ground Water

Plot

In this sparkling debut, Matthew Hollis immerses us in the undercurrents of our lives. Love and loss are buoyed by a house full of milk, an orchard underwater, the laws of walking on water. Rainwater, floodwater, flux – the liquid landscapes which shift relentlessly in Ground Water – threaten and comfort by turns. Matthew Hollis's poems are brimming with courage in adversity as well as the promise of renewal, culminating in a powerful sequence about a father's struggle with terminal illness. Matthew Hollis’s first collection Ground Water was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Whitbread Poetry Award and Forward Prize for Best First Collection. His second collection, Earth House, followed in 2023.