Drums and Bonnets

In Drums and Bonnets, we follow Miriel Lenore's search for clues to the life of her great-grandmother, Lizzie, on a poetic pilgrimage that moves from the troubles of Northern Ireland to the goldfields of Ballarat. She brings back tales from the past, interwoven with fresh and incisive evocations of people, places and dramatic situations.

These lucid and sensitive poems probe history and myth, leaving and arriving, public and private, home, religion and gold - all in the life of one unknown woman.

'Here, Miriel Lenore builds on the unadorned but graceful eloquence and narrative strength that inform her earlier collections, travelling alone together and sun wind and diesel. She brings warmth, openness and clarity of vision to her engagement with lives past and present, spins stories, establishes - against the odds - a sense of connectedness and continuity.' - Diane Fahey