New to the catalogue

Copyright © David Roberts, 2011

It is difficult to believe that it is almost 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, yet, the spirit of the unofficial Ceasefire, on the first Christmas Eve of the War, continues to capture the imagination of many.

The singing of Christmas Carols brought the two sides together that night and led to many soldiers meeting in “No Man’s Land” to exchange gifts, hold burial ceremonies, and, famously, to play football.

The current Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, captures the spirit of the event in ‘The Christmas Truce’, her latest poem. The transformation of the night from one of quiet and homesickness to that of a celebration between the two sides is wonderfully described. Beautiful illustrations by David Roberts also help to bring the moment alive.  

Through Duffy’s work the event becomes all the more poignant for us, looking back, and knowing that the fighting would resume. Yet, there is a hopeful message too, that even in the midst of the misery of war, a moment of joy was shared by all.

You can find further details of The Christmas Truce on our catalogue.

We’d like to wish all of the readers of our ‘New to the Catalogue’ Blog a ‘Merry Christmas’!

(Photo credit: Bloomsbury)

There is a great myth of the Romantic poet being a solitary, introspective soul. Daisy Hay shatters this myth with her compelling, revelatory group biography Young Romantics.

The fiery spirit of the journalist and poet Leigh Hunt bound together a tightly-knit group that included the restless Shelley, his wife Mary and her step-sister Claire Clairmont, who became Byron’s lover and mother of his child.

Author Daisy Hay explores the history of the group, from its inception in 1813 to its ultimate disintegration in the years following 1822. It encompasses tales of love, betrayal, sacrifice and friendship, all of which were played out against a background of political turbulence and intense literary creativity. They loved and hated each other. They were friends but they were also husbands, wives, brothers and sisters.

The turmoil of strained relationships would go on to inspire the drama of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the heady idealism of Shelley’s poetry and Byron’s own self-loathing, self-loving public persona.  

The story of their tangled lives is as dramatic as anything they ever wrote.

You can find further details of Young Romantics on our catalogue.