Pessimism For Beginners (Poetry Book Society Choice)

Description: Sophie Hannah's sharp pen dissects modern life and relationships with insouciant honesty and ruthless wit, and her love poems evoke timeless feelings with a shrewd simplicity that deepens her range. An edge of desolation, tenderness - an occasional flash of cruelty - and an ebullient delight in language make this a book of bittersweet pleasures. "Pessimism for Beginners" includes an extract from the opening chapter of Sophie Hannah's second psychological thriller, "Hurting Distance", published by Hodder and Stoughton, described by "The Times" as 'a superbly creepy, twisty thriller about obsessive love, psychological torture and the darkest chambers of the human heart'. In poetry and prose, Sophie Hannah is compellingly readable.

Review: 'Shall I put it in capitals? SOPHIE HANNAH IS A GENIUS.' - Poetry Review.'Sophie Hannah is a poet of considerable skill...A shrewd and accurate observer of the world around her, and of her own life, she is often very funny.'Wendy Cope'Sophie Hannah is one of my favourite young poets...she writes pithy, witty, poignant poems about love and relationships.'Daisy Goodwin



Prizes: Short-listed for T S Eliot Prize 2007.

Author Biography: Sophie Hannah was born in Manchester in 1971 and now lives in West Yorkshire. She was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge and a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. 'Her first psychological crime novel, 'Little Face', will be published in April 2006 by Hodder & Stoughton. She has published three previous collections of poetry all with Carcanet, three novels and a book of poems for children.