{"title":"Books by Ralf Webb","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781802068924","title":"Highway Cottage","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHighway Cottage \u003c\/i\u003eweaves the story of a strange homecoming. A young poet travels to the heart of the English countryside – back to the West Country village where he grew up. Descending into the valley where the small riverside community still resides, he finds himself within a dreamlike landscape, peopled by uncanny figures: drone operators and hunters; half-familiar friends; local historians, and braying councillors trying desperately to oust a community of Travellers. Hovering between reality and folklore, the locale is at once idyllic and in decay; the visitor is both unsettled and soothed by it. Slowly, we start to sense that both villagers and poet might be under threat – not just from the future, but from the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book-length sequence of poems represents a ground-breaking artistic achievement by acclaimed poet Ralf Webb. Blending the eerie musicality of children’s rhymes with echoes of traditional balladry and free verse, the collection swells to an extraordinary chorus. With great clarity and affection, but not a trace of sentimentality, Webb conjures a precise vision of a rural community, surfacing the deep and urgent tensions – personal, political, and environmental – that run through Britain today. The result is a unique portrait of contemporary country life, enchanting and unnerving in equal measure.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55897573523829,"sku":"9781802068924","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781802068924_1b5d611f-5b70-474e-af27-192469bee662.jpg?v=1786026914"},{"product_id":"9780141992730","title":"Rotten Days in Late Summer","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eTELEGRAPH \u003c\/i\u003eAND \u003ci\u003eIRISH TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE  \u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION\u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN POLLARD FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Impressive . . . tender, unflinching'  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'This is poetry in the grand tradition of annihiliation by desire. It's what the young are always learning, and the old, if they are wise, never forget'  \u003c\/b\u003eAnne Boyer, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Undying\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Brilliant . . . heralds the arrival of a frank and vital poetic voice'\u003c\/b\u003e  Sharlene Teo, author of \u003ci\u003ePonti\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Frank and alert . . . an important voice in British poetry'  \u003c\/b\u003eEley Williams, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Liar's Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Direct and heart-breaking'  \u003c\/b\u003eAlex Dimitrov, author of \u003ci\u003eLove and Other Poems\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A rare thing . . . razor-sharp'  \u003c\/b\u003eJulia Copus, author of \u003ci\u003eThis Rare Spirit: A Life of Charlotte Mew\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eRotten Days in Late Summer\u003c\/i\u003e, Ralf Webb turns poetry to an examination of the textures of class, youth, adulthood and death in the working communities of the West Country, from mobile home parks, boyish factory workers and saleswomen kept on the road for days at a time, to the yearnings of young love and the complexities of masculinity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlongside individual poems, three sequences predominate: a series of 'Love Stories', charting a course through the dreams, lies and salt-baked limbs of multiple relationships; 'Diagnostics', which tells the story of the death from cancer of the poet's father; and 'Treetops', a virtuosic long poem weaving together grief and mental health struggles in an attempt to come to terms with the overwhelming data of a life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe world of these poems is close, dangerous, lustrous and difficult: a world in which whole existences are lived in the spin of almost-inescapable fates. In searching for the light within it, this prodigious debut collection announces the arrival of a major new voice in British poetry.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56225107444085,"sku":"9780141992730","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141992730_217c9079-b41a-443b-8619-eef9b70f7900.jpg?v=1786011343"},{"product_id":"9781399713214","title":"Strange Relations","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e*SHORTLISTED FOR THE \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2025*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Remarkable... entertaining... deft... moving... refreshing'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A richly rewarding account of a resonant cultural moment'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Textured literary portraits of the masculine mind and body'\u003cbr\u003eRaymond Antrobus, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Perseverance\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1960, James Baldwin decisively diagnosed the troubled state of American society as a 'failure of the masculine sensibility'. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eStrange Relations \u003c\/i\u003eexplores this mid-century crisis through the lives and works of four bisexual writers: Tennessee Williams, Carson McCullers, John Cheever, and James Baldwin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In a mesmerising blend of biography and cultural criticism, Ralf Webb examines how these writers challenged the damaging restrictions of contemporary gender and sexuality, and how, through both their art and relationships, they sought a transformative new masculinity - one grounded in fluidity, love and intimacy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Webb's writing is of a quality rarely seen, and his book returns you to the world slightly changed, equipped with another angle of vision on the quiddity of man'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiarmuid Hester, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNothing Ever Just Disappears\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Impeccably well researched and hugely enjoyable'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNicole Flattery, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNothing Special\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Wise, hopeful, and exquisitely written'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWill Tosh, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eStraight Acting\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685969469813,"sku":"9781399713252","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56298841702773,"sku":"9781399713214","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399713214.jpg?v=1792599235"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-ralf-webb.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}