Orlam
17 April 2025Imprint: Picador
Synopsis
Nine-year-old Ira-Abel Rawles lives on Hook Farm in the village of Underwhelem. Next to the farm is Gore Woods, Ira’s sanctuary, overseen by Orlam, the all-seeing lamb’s eyeball who is Ira-Abel’s guardian and protector. Here, drawing on the rituals, children’s songs, chants and superstitions of the rural West Country of England, Ira-Abel creates the twin realm through which she can...
Details
17 April 2025368 pages
9781529063127Imprint: Picador
Reviews
'A curious and enchanting thing, […] Full of exquisite nature poetry. The words themselves are a lovesome delight: soft and buzzy in mouth and ear (zummer, yoller, whiver, theasom), guttural and crude when needed (maggoty, puxy, stumble fuck). The glossary is its own poem.'Guardian
'Orlam, Harvey’s second book of poems, with Dorset and English versions on facing pages, is not the work of a dilettante but is accomplished, allusive poetry that revives the dying vocabulary of Harvey’s upbringing. […] Harvey’s otherworldly voice reaches for and occasionally touches something profound and archaic'Poetry Foundation
'Ambitious, singular'Telegraph
'A rich and unwieldy epic. [...] As deliciously Polly Jean as you could muster. [...] In Orlam, Harvey is ffering new life to a dialect that has been in decline, recording folklore, wildlife and ritual through language that will not be forgotten.'Big Issue
