In both his poetry and his novels, such as the iconic world-bestseller The White Hotel, D. M. Thomas has followed his own vision, ignoring the fashionable and the expected. The Last Waltz is no exception. The impression it leaves is of experience, personal and historical, distilled over a life stretching from the threat of Hitler to the threat to freedom of thought and speech today. The moods vary, from grief to controlled anger to satirical humour; the themes, from falling in love on his first day at Infants school to a royal wedding competing in our news (successfully) with Palestinians being massacred. All explored with immense assurance in a rich variety of forms. ‘There aren’t many poets in England as good as Thomas.’ - The Guardian.