Daughter of the Sun

Author: Rachel Spence Series: Poetry Collections

Paperback

Feminist poetry inspired by Medea

A collection of poems in two sections reimagining the Greek myth of Medea and personal sonnets exploring the author's time caring for her mother.

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Paperback

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Summary

Feminist poetry inspired by Medea

A collection of poems in two sections reimagining the Greek myth of Medea and personal sonnets exploring the author's time caring for her mother.

Description

From the gentle rivers of Shropshire to the heat-baked seas of Greece, Daughter of the Sun radiates with mothers and tracks our orbits around them.

Split into two parts, a sonnet sequence recounts Spence’s time reconnecting with her estranged mother – caring for her through illness and grieving her passing – before a bold rewriting of the myths around Medea reimagines her not as a murderous witch but a child-free scientist ahead of her time.

With the power and salve of the natural world always close by, Daughter of the Sun contends with being a mother and a daughter, and also what it means to liberate ourselves of those identities and write our own myths full of freedom and possibility.

Critic Reviews

"Spence’s careful staging of an arduous, painful relationship is a poignant tribute."

-- Dave Coates

About the Author

Rachel Spence lives in London, Ludlow and Venice. Her poems explore themes including time, absence, motherhood and water. She has published three pamphlets: 'Furies' (Templar, 2016), 'Call & Response' (Emma Press, 2020), and 'Uncalendared' (Coast to Coast Journal Winner, 2023). Her debut collection 'Bird of Sorrow' (Templar, 2018) was highly commended in the 2019 Forward Prize. Her prose poem 'Venice Unclocked', in collaboration with photographer Giacomo Cosua, was published by Ivory Press in 2022. Her poetry has appeared widely, including in PN Review, The North, The London Magazine, 14 magazine and Tears in the Fence. Her non-fiction book 'Battle for the Museum', which explores the relationship between art, power and money, was published by Hurst in 2024.