miming happiness

"Allison McVety seizes the reader's attention. Partly it's a narrative talent, but Allison McVety's particular skill is in converting the feel of day-to-day experience past and present – whether ordinary, intriguing or alarming - into genuine poetry."
Alan Brownjohn

"Let Allison McVety be your guide through the industrial landscape of the last century for hers is a voice that is deft, measured and unfaltering in the face of 'liquid history’, yet always with an eye for the human: the train drivers, button keepers and those on the night shift. Here is a poet who excels at making long-gone everyday objects like ration books at once endearing and remarkable. An exhilarating follow-up to her outstanding collection, The Night Trotsky Came to Stay. So clear is her voice that we can hear ‘a pin drop from a milliner’s grip some ninety years/away"
Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch