Sagrada Familia is Helen Anderson's exploration of the isolation and erasure involved in loss, and areflection on the things which sustain us during hard times. Written in the aftermath of her becoming a widow only a few years after the death of her teenage daughter, these poems take usfrom the agony of initial grief through to progress towards healing. The trajectory of this journey is far from smooth: Sagrada Familia outlines the fragmentary nature of living with bereavement, lifting the cover on the private reality beneath outward appearances ofeveryday survival. The poet shares her attempts to frame a language to deal with multiple shifts innormality, whether on the beaches of her home in the North East of England or abroad. Like asoundtrack which persists even when the backdrop changes, raw pain persists in the face ofattempts to find comfort in travel, nature, religion, and the re-shaping of memories: the only wayforward is to allow it to run its course. Developing its motif of light forcing through darkness, Sagrada Familia ends on an uplifting, rallyingnote. The final poems hint at happiness in a new - albeit unexpected - way of life, by means of realchange which does not involve hiding away, escaping, or conforming to society's expectations.Ultimately, Helen Anderson's message is one of hope that trauma need not be the end, but canbecome a bridge towards growth and to living on your own terms.
