I had never heard of Eavan Boland before this book was nominated for the Costa Book Awards although a little research informs me that she was both prolific and one of the most highly respected Irish poets of the last 50 years. The Historians is Poetry with a capital “P”. Poetry to be read and enjoyed but also in the kind of style that I would have deemed pretentious at another time in my life. I wouldn’t describe Boland’s words as “vivid” but the collection is full of colours and images. You can smell the rain and dusty bookcases and burning paper. I have put it aside to take to on a country bus ride in the sun or to read in the garden in the spring. It made me miss the Peak District and the seaside and the ability to just roam around and think.