- Published: 15 November 2008
- ISBN: 9780099531869
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $32.99
The Presence
- Published: 15 November 2008
- ISBN: 9780099531869
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $32.99
A supremely fresh and vital performance, matching profound emotion with witty observation... This is a truly marvellous book
Independent
Abse's diary is a remarkable and tender document
Sunday Times
For all its painful honesty, [this is] a surprisingly joyful and compelling book... Imbued with all the best qualities of what it means to human and in love
Independent on Sunday
The Presence is a fragment of autobiography written from the most private part of a poet's heart, with a pen dipped in blood and tears. That it transcends this to become both elegiac and celebratory, to inhabit both the suffered present and the beloved past, places it almost beyond the scope of routine criticism.
Daily Telegraph
Hauntingly poignant... One hopes that he comes before long to share the happiness this wise, funny, heart rending little book brings to its readers
Daily Telegraph
Full of memorable images... As Abse performs the strange and also strangely valuable work of mourning, he offers, with The Presence, wit and balm
Financial Times
Elegy and eulogy, full of kindness and understanding of our common vulnerablility, this lovely book is a very rich boon
The Times