The Hand Glass

Plot

We often approach the characters in Frances Sackett's new collection through their lyrical views of landscape, their careful descriptions of surface or scene. In this way, the model in 'Vanity' is redeemed by her visions from the arrogant suppositions of the painter, the child victim of 'Beyond the Door' captures 'imagination's toys' in the noises that reach her lonely room and an old woman collects firewood for her last winter in a beautiful autumnal forest in 'Gathering Wood'. This creates a poetry of reflections and refractions, where imagery builds an atmosphere and emotion stalks the reader quietly. A distinctive feeling for how history interacts with the present also pervades 'Change of Weather at Conwy' and other poems. The Hand Glass is Frances Sackett's first collection and marks a distinctive debut.