Synopsis:
"Amazing, mesmerizing, filled with pithy wisdom, THALIAD is a work of genius which also seems particularly relevant to our own time." --Lee Smith Thaliad, a book-length epic poem written in blank verse, tells the story of a group of children, survivors of an apocalypse, who make an arduous journey of escape and then settle in a deserted rural town on the shores of a beautiful lake. There, they must learn how to survive, using tools and knowledge they discover in the ruins of the town, but also how to live together. At the heart of the story is the young girl Thalia, who gradually grows to womanhood, and into the spiritual role for which she was destined. Following in the great tradition of narrative poetry, Thaliad tells a gripping story populated with sharply-drawn, memorable characters whose struggles illuminate the complexity of human behavior from its most violent to most noble. At the same time, through its accessible language and style, the epic presents wholly contemporary questions about what is necessary not only for physical survival, but for the flourishing of the human spirit.
From the Author:
Thaliad is a particularly beautiful object, having been produced in collaboration with stellar designer Elizabeth Adams and major artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins (Clive and I also worked together on the poetry collection, The Foliate Head, and his work has appeared on the covers of some of my other books, both poetry and fiction.) The physical book pleases me enormously as a memento of friendship and time spent with other artists, joined from three countries by the magic of the internet.
I hope that people who love poetry will find Thaliad, but I do not think this tale bars those who are primarily readers of fiction. The narrative is written in iambic pentameter, or blank verse, and English speakers tend to talk in a way that is roughly iambic. So I hope that people who love grand, epic adventures and stories in which much (tragic, joyful, vigorous, and surprising) happens and a world is transformed will discover Thaliad and then share it with others. Should you be one of those who does so, Lady Word of Mouth and I will frisk and be grateful!
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