Christmas 2008 The Lost Leader
By Mick Imlah
Faber £9.99, 144 pages
A brilliantly entertaining hymnal of Scottish myths, revived and robustly reimagined, from Bonnie Prince Charlie (the titular lost leader) to the dour, latter-day Marys of Scotland. Imlah won this year’s Forward Prize.
One Secret Thing
By Sharon Olds
Knopf $16.95, 114 pages
The visceral, passionate world of Sharon Olds makes a welcome return with this blistering investigation into pangs of war, family and love. Once again the traumas of Olds’s strict, Calvinist childhood are remembered in lyrical detail, softened here by her desire to forgive.
