William’s Wife Shalash it is beautifully balanced with

it is beautifully balanced with fine humour – the yin and yang of a life well-lived

But for far too long her unmistakable voice

as this book reveals to a new audience

the first time this award was given to a poet

rivers and villages

William’s Wife Shalash it is beautifully balanced withWhen Jane marries the elderly grocer William Chirp, she thinks she has moved up into the comfort of middle class. Instead, she discovers that William exerts a control over her life that forces her to live like a prisoner. His tight fistedness and suspicions so affect Jane that even after his death, she finds herself trapped in a penny pinching paranoia and resorts to scavenging for food out of garbage bins and taking her silverware with her everywhere