Archangel

Fiction & Literature, Poetry
Cover of the book Archangel by Henry Shukman, Random House
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Henry Shukman ISBN: 9781448139958
Publisher: Random House Publication: March 7, 2013
Imprint: Vintage Digital Language: English
Author: Henry Shukman
ISBN: 9781448139958
Publisher: Random House
Publication: March 7, 2013
Imprint: Vintage Digital
Language: English

It has been over a decade since Henry Shukman published his award-winning first collection, In Doctor No’s Garden. Now, in his greatly anticipated second collection, he explores a little-known piece of Jewish history, in a sequence of poems that forms the centre-piece of this book. In 1917 several thousand Jewish tailors were deported from London and shipped back to Archangel and the Russian Empire they had recently fled, ostensibly to fight on the Eastern Front. They arrived just as the Revolution was unfolding and the old regime was collapsing into chaos. Among them were Shukman’s grandfather and great-uncle, and these poems chronicle their four-year struggle to return to their wives and children in London.

With poems on loss and mortality, on love in difficult circumstances, and on the familiar themes of childhood and family relationships, Archangel tells the stories of many journeys – from youth to maturity, from loss back into love – and the migrations of Shukman’s Jewish grandparents are echoed in his own move with his wife and family from England to New Mexico. Whatever the theme, though, these are all love poems: poems lucid with intensity, bright with the longing for love – both its fleeting rapture and its slow contentment – and Archangel is a book of great reach, power and beauty.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

It has been over a decade since Henry Shukman published his award-winning first collection, In Doctor No’s Garden. Now, in his greatly anticipated second collection, he explores a little-known piece of Jewish history, in a sequence of poems that forms the centre-piece of this book. In 1917 several thousand Jewish tailors were deported from London and shipped back to Archangel and the Russian Empire they had recently fled, ostensibly to fight on the Eastern Front. They arrived just as the Revolution was unfolding and the old regime was collapsing into chaos. Among them were Shukman’s grandfather and great-uncle, and these poems chronicle their four-year struggle to return to their wives and children in London.

With poems on loss and mortality, on love in difficult circumstances, and on the familiar themes of childhood and family relationships, Archangel tells the stories of many journeys – from youth to maturity, from loss back into love – and the migrations of Shukman’s Jewish grandparents are echoed in his own move with his wife and family from England to New Mexico. Whatever the theme, though, these are all love poems: poems lucid with intensity, bright with the longing for love – both its fleeting rapture and its slow contentment – and Archangel is a book of great reach, power and beauty.

More books from Random House

Cover of the book Kapabel by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Das Monstrum - Tommyknockers by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Hand in Glove by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Curvy by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book The Romford Pelé by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book La ladrona de espejos (La trastienda Batibaleno 4) by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Mascota de bruja (Serie Makia Vela 3) by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book The Gecko and Sticky: Villain's Lair by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book A Kiss And A Promise by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Mutatis mutandis (Versos, canciones y trocitos de carne [Spin Off]) by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Rapture by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Hitman: Enemy Within by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Exposed by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book Around the Bloc by Henry Shukman
Cover of the book The Essential Screenplay (3-Book Bundle) by Henry Shukman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy