A narrative long-form poem written in the Dorset dialect. Nine-year-old Ira-Abel Rawles lives on Hook Farm in the village of Underwhelm. 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 make sense of an increasingly confusing and frightening world

Author

P. J. Harvey