Readers of gender studies and gay/lesbian literature will be delighted by these collected works of a dynamic poet whose popularity in the 1930s suffered due to her communist affiliations and notoriety as a lesbian. Complete with an invaluable introduction that provides context into her work, this collection offers sensitive accounts of lesbian love, the evils of war, the socialist struggle, the destruction of the natural world, and the beauty of the Dorset landscape. Spanning almost 50 years, these poems reflect the life experiences of a strong yet complicated woman in the mid-20th century with a voice that is powerfully felt and elegantly controlled.

Valentine Ackland cowrote a collection of love poems, Whether a Dover or a Seagull, with her lover Sylvia Townsend Warner. Her other works include Further Poems of Valentine Ackland, Sylvia: An Honest Account, and The Nature of the Moment. Frances Bingham is a poet and freelance writer.