Whoop An' Shout!

Bloom's writing just goes from strength to strength. Whoop An' Shout!, her latest collection, dazzles with wit, intelligence, humour and lyricism. She moves effortlessly from subjects as diverse as bullying, waiting, pets, computer viruses to the lost time in Jamaica her birthplace, when the whooping boys drove the cattle and the first colonisers set foot on the island. 'First Contact' wonderfully describes a moment in time which was to change everything - 'Across the blue stillness, / To the three squares of white / Skirting the horizon. She watched them race closer, / Big-bellied with the wind, / Saw the elaborate canoes beneath. They were like nothing she had seen before, / So she dropped her digging stick, / And ran.' Not to be missed.