Glimpses of the Middle EastThe memoirs of Patience Moberly, wife to the British ambassador to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The ambassadors wife knows everything, hears secrets, witnesses duplicity, but is not allowed to express a political opinion. Now, aged 93, she expresses her views plainly: the Iraq War was unnecessary and the plight of the Palestinians is appalling. John and Patience Moberly were responsible for starting and training the first Intensive Care Unit in Gaza,

“With virtuoso craft and a naturalist’s accuracy

but also ‘genius’

prostitutes

He set out with only two things

The collection acts like a scrapbook of a 90s childhood: the rusting swing-sets

his voice is that of a child - one that asks questions - alongside that of a mature voice of a man who has to make difficult decisions

I open it and when the cork hits the ceiling with a bang Viktor turns around and says hello and I say hello as I lift the bottle to my mouth

"Kalu packs plot and compulsive characters with story lines that grip" - The Voice (on Yard Dogs)

or some confusion of all the above

vicious and virtuous circles – again and again

slow Sundays and long afternoons in the pub

let alone one given to reading poems