The Estate Agent's Daughter

By Rhian Edwards

The Estate Agent's Daughter is Rhian Edwards' eagerly awaited follow-up to her multi-prizewinning debut Clueless Dogs. Her voice is both powerfully personal, local to her Bridgend birthplace, and performative, born to be read aloud. In the title poem, the protagonist has become a surrealist house, with dream-like details 'carpeted with sycamore seeds and cherry blossom throughout'; the sturdy realism of a writing desk 'nudged/ to the brink of the bay,' as well as points of sharp irony: 'all mod cons.' This poem foreshadows both the heartbreak (a shattered first marriage) and joy (the birth of a daughter) that feature in the work that follows. We also have pieces of sly irony, of disillusioned dating. There is an engaging diptych devoted to a recently deceased grandmother and grandfather, who died within months of each other, and whose vivid personalities, with all their tragi-comic elements, shine through. The author combines her visceral skill for description, for these are poems based in the body, with a feminist, forthright courage to speak of difficult things.

"The Estate Agent's Daughter is a necessary reading experience for anyone embarking, or trying to survive, their fortieth decade.” Robert Minhinnick

“Brilliant, visceral poems. Reading them feels like being led through beautiful rooms by an estate agent who always takes care to show you what's hidden beneath the floorboards.” Joe Dunthorne

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Jul 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781781725849

Rhian Edwards

Rhian Edwards is a multi-award winning poet. Her first collection of poems Clueless Dogs (Seren) won Wales Book of the Year, the Roland Mathias Prize for Poetry and Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice. It was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Rhian’s poems have appeared in the Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, Poetry Review, New Statesman, Spectator, Poetry London, Poetry Wales, Arete, Prague Revue, London Magazine, Stand and Planet Magazine amongst others. Rhian is a poet and musician and has delivered over 400 stage, radio and festival performances world-wide. She lives in South Wales with her daughter.

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