Philosophical, wry and intimate, the poems of this combined collection range across many places and themes, reminding the reader of the complexity and 'rich simplicity' of experience. Through four distinctive voices, the poems illuminate moments of recognition and understanding. They investigate the dualities of life, the 'parallel worlds', and they tell us of the interconnections of childhood, 'the sanctuary of memory', nature, time and, most poignantly in that 'call to sleep, the tolling bell', they remind us of mortality. Adrienne Eberhard