Books by Susan Noble

Before and After the Darkness is the third collection of poems by Susan Noble, following The Dream of Stairs: A Poem Cycle and Inside the Stretch of My Heart. To mark the fortieth anniversary of Susan's death, this volume is being published in hardback, paperback and Kindle, making all her poems publicly available for the first time. The Dream of Stairs was privately printed as a posthumous memorial volume in 1975, a year after Susan's untimely death in 1974 at the age of 31. Having announced with typically light-hearted self-depreciation that 'The muse has struck me!', Susan wrote the poems in batches of half a dozen or more from 1965 onwards in what she described as manic bursts of creativity. But these poems are anything but light-hearted, and even a first reading will reveal clearly that levity is not on the menu in a universe 'Where there are no jokes / And people do not pretend.' Susan's output in the last ten years of her life was prolific, but when it came to compiling the poems, after a good deal of deliberation, a clear thematic structure and underlying development seemed to dictate the final order of that original poignant collection. Many of the poems in Before and After the Darkness were triggered by the quotidian experience of living and working in central London in the late 1960s and early 1970s, yet beneath the fragile surface of her acute observations of domestic and office life in the city, intensely spiritual insights are being played out, sometimes delicately, sometimes shockingly, but always movingly. The poems in this volume were written in the early 1970s, like those in Inside the Stretch of My Heart, and include a number of poems written in 1973 and 1974 in the months before Susan's death. Two further companion volumes are also being published: A Flock of Blackbirds (selected novellas and short stories); and her novel, Drifting Between Empty Tramlines. Profits from the sales of all six volumes are being donated to three charities: Mind, the Samaritans and Sane. Facsimiles of the original typescripts and manuscripts are available online at www.aesopbooks.com/susannoble About the author Brought up in South London, Susan Noble was the second of three children. Her childhood was enriched by being part of our large and closely-knit Jewish family. Unfortunately stricken by polio (then known as infantile paralysis) in her early years, Susan went through life with a degree of physical handicap which she was to overcome with courage and determination. Educated at Croydon High School, Susan studied English at Somerville College, Oxford. After graduating, Susan worked in London, first at the Royal National Institute for the Blind, dictating books for transcription into Braille, and later at the National Central Library in London, where she qualified as a Chartered Librarian. Susan's exceptional sensitivity was reflected in the prolific outpouring of poems to be found in The Dream of Stairs, Inside the Stretch of My Heart and Before and After the Darkness. In these intense, haunting poems, she chronicles her personal response to the world around her, while vividly portraying the inner landscape of her mental and emotional struggle.

Inside the Stretch of My Heart is the companion volume to the collection The Dream of Stairs: A Poem Cycle, which was privately printed as a posthumous memorial volume in 1975, a year after Susan Noble's untimely death in 1974 at the age of 31.'The muse has struck me!' Susan had announced in 1965 with typically light-hearted self-depreciation, and from that time onwards she wrote the poems in batches of half a dozen or more, in what she described as manic bursts of creativity. But these poems are anything but light-hearted, and even a first reading will reveal clearly that levity is not on the menu in a universe 'Where there are no jokes / And people do not pretend.' Susan's output in the last ten years of her life was prolific, but a clear thematic structure and underlying development dictated the final order of that original poignant collection. To mark the fortieth anniversary of her death, the poems in this present collection have been published for the first time, along with a revised, expanded edition of The Dream of Stairs. A companion volume to these two poetry collections, A Flock of Blackbirds, featuring a selection of Susan's novellas and short stories, and her novel Between Empty Tramlines are also being simultaneously published.Susan's exceptional sensitivity was reflected in the prolific outpouring of poems that make up The Dream of Stairs and Inside the Stretch of My Heart. In these intense, haunting poems, she chronicles her personal response to the world around her, while vividly portraying the inner landscape of her mental and emotional struggle.Profits from the sales of all four volumes are being donated to three charities: Mind, the Samaritans and Sane. Facsimiles of the original typescripts and manuscripts are available online at: www.aesopbooks.com/susannoble About the author Brought up in South London, Susan Noble, was the second of three children. Her childhood was enriched by being part of a large and closely-knit Jewish family. Unfortunately stricken by polio (then known as infantile paralysis) in her early years, Susan went through life with a degree of physical handicap which she was to overcome with courage and determination. Educated at Croydon High School, Susan studied English at Somerville College, Oxford. After graduating, Susan worked in London, first at the Royal National Institute for the Blind, dictating books for transcription into Braille, and later at the National Central Library in London, where she qualified as a Chartered Librarian. -

A Dream of Stairs: A Poem Cycle was privately printed as a posthumous memorial volume in 1975, a year after Susan Angela Noble's untimely death in 1974 at the age of 31. Having announced with typically light-hearted self-depreciation, 'The muse has struck me!' Susan wrote the poems in batches of half a dozen or more, from 1965 onwards, in what she described as manic bursts of creativity. But these poems are anything but light-hearted, and even a first reading will reveal clearly that levity is not on the menu in a universe 'Where there are no jokes / And people do not pretend.' Susan's output in the last ten years of her life was prolific, but when it came to compiling the poems, after a good deal of deliberation, a clear thematic structure and underlying development seemed to dictate the final order of that original poignant collection.To mark the fortieth anniversary of Susan's death, this second edition, published in hardback, paperback and Kindle, makes the book publicly available for the first time. There are a number of changes to the first edition: a slight reordering of the poems, minor amendments to the structure of the poem cycle, a revised, enhanced layout, and indexes of titles and first lines. More significantly, the original selection has been augmented by many additional poems, which clearly fit within the cycle thematically and structurally. Three companion volumes are also being published: Inside the Stretch of My Heart (a collection of previously unpublished poems); A Flock of Blackbirds (selected novellas and short stories); and her novel, Between the Tramlines. Profits from the sales of all four volumes are being donated to three charities: Mind, the Samaritans and Sane. Facsimiles of the original typescripts and manuscripts are available online at: www.aesopbooks.com/susannobleAbout the authorBrought up in South London, Susan Noble, was the second of three children. Her childhood was enriched by being part of our large and closely-knit Jewish family. Unfortunately stricken by polio (then known as infantile paralysis) in her early years, Susan went through life with a degree of physical handicap which she was to overcome with courage and determination. Educated at Croydon High School, Susan studied English at Somerville College, Oxford. After graduating, Susan worked in London, first at the Royal National Institute for the Blind, dictating books for transcription into Braille, and later at the National Central Library in London, where she qualified as a Chartered Librarian.Susan's exceptional sensitivity was reflected in the prolific outpouring of poems that make up The Dream of Stairs and Inside the Stretch of My Heart. In these intense, haunting poems, she chronicles her personal response to the world around her, while vividly portraying the inner landscape of her mental and emotional struggle.