Portraits of Drowning
by Madeleine Dale

‘Portraits of Drowning is a superbly crafted fusion of rich language, inventiveness, intellect, wit, and deep empathy – for the fragility and strength of nature, and the solitary swimmer.’

‘Portraits of Drowning is a book of exquisite skill and polish. This is lyric poetry at its best.’

‘At once prophecy and postmortem, Portraits of Drowning delineates what is lost in the deluge, and what is found. This is a poetry of myth and history, hunger and glut – where bodies want for bodies, where water wants for baptism and burial.’

‘Madeleine Dale invites readers to contemplate a poetics of drowning in which memories surface, hazards submerge, and bodies sink breathlessly into depths of longing. This is the landmark debut I’ve been waiting for.’