Emma Lew is highly regarded amongst contemporary Australian poets for the dramatic intensity of her poems, which combine sudden shifts of voice and perspective with a heightened awareness of the moment. The historical range of her settings, the sense of risk and adventure felt by her characters, and the variety of her forms - from portrait to monologue to lyrical celebration - deepen and enrich the drama. This collection won the 2003 C.J. Dennis Award for Poetry, one of the Victorian Premier's literary awards, and the Judith Wright Calanthe Award (the Queensland Premier's Prize for Poetry), each amongst the leading literary prizes in Australia. Emma Lew's first volume The Wild Reply won The Age Poetry Book of the Year Award in 1997.