Advanced Praise:

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‘Deering’s powerful chlorophyll- and clay-dipped collection shows us how to read the leaves and the ripples, how to speak with feathered and tree-abiding lives, to see, almost as if with the lightning rod of divine inspiration, that ‘it is always about love’. This is a book to surrender to. In the hands of a master word-conjurer, you will be carried by its ‘watermagic’. This is poetry as theophysics, rendered with the precision of a scientist and the furor of a visionary. A tremendous and vital collection from a breathtakingly skilled and assured voice.’

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Chris Laoutaris, Associate Professor at The Shakespeare Institute and author of Bleed and See (Broken Sleep Books) and Shakespeare’s Book (William Collins)

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‘Deering’s poetry displays a deep knowledge and understanding of mythology and the natural world. She uses the minutiae of nature to skilfully dissect the human condition, addressing the subjects of life, death, love, despair and hope through the powerful lens of her original verse. In the Shadow of Gods is a highly accomplished, multi-layered collection in which ‘…hidden truths/can thrive in the very depths/of lies, amphibious, cold; alive/amongst a community of bones.’

Kitty Donnelly, author of In Dangerous Hours.

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‘Rachel Deering writes with scalpel-sharp precision, penning one of the finest poetry collections I’ve read in a long time. Like a seer, she draws from a historic understanding of language and spirituality, boiling them down to the letters and casting them into work like runes. There is an ancient mysticism that bleeds through this book, but the work is not outdated – far from it. Everything about this book is considered, down to the last comma, imbuing the poems with fresh images and ideas at every turn. In the Shadow of Gods is the future of poetry.’

Briony Collins, author of The Birds, The Rabbits, the Trees.

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‘Reflecting our journeys and departures, Deering’s imagery and language sings of the growth replicated within nature and humanity offering a reclamation of our landscapes through deft metaphor and an inventive perspective conveying the dangers and delights of daring to live within life’s contradictions. Each piece creates a sensory realm exploring our bodies and desires, our weaknesses and will for agency; the power of the feminine threads itself through each section with Deering’s inimitable ecological voice. And, while ‘everything has a conclusion,’ from these ends come beginnings – there is a true sense of hope vibrantly alive in these necessary poems.’

Louise Machen, award-nominated writer.

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‘In the Shadow of Gods transports the reader into a wild and wonderful world seeped in myth, fairy-tale and folklore, where trees stand as equals to humans, and the voices of the more-than-human are many. The pages of this collection are peopled with toads, hares, crows, salamanders… with both real and fantastical creatures. Here are poems that walk a tightrope between light and darkness, between life and death, but although the speaker ‘buried the light’ in ‘The Dead Want Their Moon Back’, it is never completely lost; we are reminded that ‘the pain of living is also its ecstasy’ (‘A Salmon is Willed Onwards’), and hope can be found ‘in a seed or the black tips of a hare’s ears’ (‘Lammas’). Deering leads the reader masterfully through five intricately painted tableaux, when we reach the final poem, we are reluctant to leave.’

Corinna Board, author of Arboreal.

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There is a timeless, folkloric quality to these haunting poems. And yet, whether concerning a tree, a bird, a season, all feel fully grounded in real-world emotion and experience. Throughout, Deering brings her mostly natural subjects to multi-dimensional life: weaving mythic, cultural, landscape, scientific and historic elements together to create often stunning thoughts and images that linger. 

Whether the poet is addressing, or giving voice to a silver birch, a toad, a valley, a salamander, I find the poems share a delightful sonic quality, that compels certain lines and phrases to be read out aloud, so they can be experienced on the tongue and heard in the room. 

A beguiling collection, infused with a sense of great depth and age, often tinged with the darkest of shadows, but also lifted by the beauty of a multitude of fleeting moments; as light beams pass, questions are asked, or plants flower briefly into season. Walk into this wood of words, you may find yourself reluctant to step back out.'

Matt Gilbert, author of Street Sailing.

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