The best of reviews

A couple of weeks back I received proof copies of the paperback editions of A Love Poetry Trilogy in the mail. All three of them, even though the 2nd and 3rd collections aren’t released yet.

Both the later books (A Kiss for the Worthy, and Rescue and Redemption) had minor flaws – a typo, spine text not quite aligning, and so on, but were essentially good for a casual read.

Quite wonderful, in fact, though I confess to a biased perspective. Check the image below.

A Love Poetry Trilogy

I decided that I would donate one complete trilogy in its proof form to the local Nursing Home, where my father is resident. In the past I have sold a couple of my collections to their little library, and to residents who have enjoyed hearing me read my work – particular the reminiscences of Small Town Kid and The New Asylum.

Today, a couple of days later, the Activities Officer, pulled me aside as I was wandering in for a visit.

She told me that Thursday is their Book Club morning, and that usually there are around 3 residents who participate. For today’s session she announced that she had new books by myself and that the subject of the books was love poetry – Walk Away Silver Heart, in fact.

Fifteen residents attended, and with each poem they shared their own sense of the meaning and feeling of the poem – absence, loss, grief.

Some spoke of their own experiences of watching the troop trains leaving the station to carry men off to war.

Apparently the pleasure in hearing the poems and then sharing their own stories was a powerful and positive experience, and one resident has gone to a deal of trouble to make sure that I was informed she wishes to purchase all three books.

I was very, very moved by this ‘review‘. Almost to tears.

I believe that responses and reactions like this one, may be the reason that I write – to let readers feel, and to encourage them to read aloud and share and then to talk about what arises as a result.

At the moment I feel very humble, and grateful, and proud.

A Kiss for the Worthy – Book 2 – will be released as a paperback on April 30th, with the Kindle version scheduled for May 17th.

I will be organising myself to send out ARC copies for early reader/reviewers soon. If you aren’t on the list, but would like to read and provide a review, drop me a line by e-mail (FrankPrem03 at Gmail dot com) and I’ll be glad to add to the ARC list.

Meanwhile, I am developing my website (www.FrankPrem.com) to operate as a shop as well, so I’ll be able to sell paperbacks direct to anyone in Australia, if there is demand for that.

Walk Away Silver Heart is doing me proud. Don’t forget, there is a ten minute reading from this collection available to view on YouTube.

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