The Terrible (Penguin Books)

Winner of the PEN Ackerley Prize • Longlisted for the 2019 PEN Open Book Award

“Devastating and lyrical.” —The New York Times

“Suspenseful and affecting.” —The New Yorker

From the celebrated poet behind bone, a collection of poems that tells a story of coming-of-age, uncovering the cruelty and beauty of the world, going under, and finding redemption

Through her signature sharp, searing poems, this is the story of Yrsa Daley-Ward and all the things that happened. “Even the terrible things. And God, there were terrible things.” It’s about her childhood in the northwest of England with her beautiful, careworn mother Marcia, the man formerly known as Dad (half fun, half frightening), and her little brother Roo, who sees things written in the stars.

It’s also about the surreal magic of adolescence, about growing up and discovering the power and fear of sexuality, about pitch-grey days of pills and powder and connection. It’s about damage and pain but also joy. With raw intensity and shocking honesty, The Terrible is a collection of poems telling the story of losing yourself and finding your voice.

“You may not run away from the thing that you are

because it comes and comes and comes as sure as you breathe.”