A Family Behind Glass
A Family Behind Glass
Matthew Hedley Stoppard
Paperback
A Family Behind Glass is the first collection of poetry by Matthew Hedley Stoppard, painting a vivid picture of a 1990s childhood (complete with miniature waistcoats and rusting swing-sets), then taking us through to the present-day realities of the poet's life as a father to his own family.
With a particularly English literary sensibility, every line crackles with half-forgotten but instantly recognisable characters, images and locations, somehow evoking a nostalgia for the here-and-now – and everything that is 'behind glass', just beyond our reach.
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Imprint: Valley Press
Published: May 2013
ISBN: 9781908853202
Catalogue no: VP0044
Page count: 48
Trim size: 198 x 129 mm
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Praise for A Family Behind Glass:
“Uses inventive language and striking imagery ... one of the most arresting poetry collections of the year.”
— John Irving Clarke, The Guardian
“Matthew Hedley Stoppard's poetic voice is truly original and always compelling … He weaves the everyday into wonderfully unravelling works of art. Rarely is humour deployed to tell so much truth.”
— James Nash
“Inventive, acutely observed and often searingly comic ... his subjects are described with a linguistic brio of fizzing lines and images. Buy the collection immediately.”
— Mike Di Placido
About the author
Matthew Hedley Stoppard was born in Derbyshire in 1985. After a brief career as a journalist, he now works as a librarian, and lives in Otley with his wife and two sons.
Matthew's debut collection of poetry, A Family Behind Glass, was published by Valley Press in 2013, and was included in the Guardian's Readers' Books of the Year. His next publication was Cinema Stories (2015), a collaboration with fellow Leeds-based poet James Nash, celebrating the movie theatres of Leeds, past and present. His second solo collection, The Garland King, was published in 2020.