A sardonic, stinging wake-up call to the complexities of modern existence

The Fleece Era is Yukon-based, UK-born Joanna Lilley's first book of poems: a wry and eloquent testament to the intricacies of our various relationships. From the shattered pieces of our environmental puzzles to the labyrinth of family dynamics, Lilley makes these dilemmas come alive. Chillingly sparse, attractively odd and refreshingly frank, The Fleece Era embraces the complexities of human life with an unsettling mix of the sardonic and the compassionate.

On Sunday, my mother made me

help her dig the garden.
She sat back on the heels
of her rubber boots, muddying
the backside of her old blue trousers.

She said: Last week I stuck a fork
into the soil and heard a scream.
She'd stabbed a frog.
She definitely heard it scream.

I was the first person she'd told.
— from "Biology lesson"