Rick O’Shea: The new book I’ll recommend to everyone I meet... and more poets who write stunning prose

The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes is full of images and ideas that will stop you in your tracks

Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives

Rick O'Shea

I feel a unique anticipation when there’s a new book due from a writer whose work I especially love. It can be someone I’ve read all my life or a new author on their second novel, it doesn’t matter. If it falls flat, I’ll be in low-grade mourning for a little while, even if I know I’ll read the next book in case this one was a blip.

But there is almost no greater joy than when I finish a book from one of those authors and know that I’m going to spend the rest of the year recommending it at every possible opportunity. I have my first one of those of 2024 to start this week.