Hafsah Aneela Bashir’s debut poetry collection is by turns tender, poignant and fierce. With searingly sharp detail, this is an exploration of the private and the public, teasing out the relationship between the two; compelling readers to stop and look again and again at what they had imagined was the familiar.

Between the uncertainty and doubt of relationships under strain, to the tragedy of war and its fundamental injustices, this is a collection that unapologetically examines the human condition and the conflicts that arise within us. What does it take to be who we are? What are we prepared to ignore or accept? Her work asks uncomfortable questions, searching after uncomfortable truths. Never complacent, always conscious of many journeys each of us must make, this is a collection that travels with us.