An excellent, scholarly guide for teachers and students, featuring perceptive, thorough notes on every single poem, as well as consideration of contextual issues such as feminism and Duffy’s own life. This resource is all you need for teaching or studying Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Feminine Gospels’. ‘Feminine Gospels’ is a set text for AQA GCE English Literature, Specification A.

These essays meet A* criteria in their sophisticated argument, deep understanding of and perceptive insight into the poems and their crafting, and a secure and interesting embedding of social, historical and literary context. The essay titles alone on Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Feminine Gospels’ would be useful for student practice, and the essays themselves can be used as excellent models at A level particularly. Poems analysed include ‘Loud’, ‘The Light Gatherer’, ‘Gambler’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘Sub’, ‘Death and the Moon’. The analysis of the poems is subtle and playful, and the writing is confident. The essays deal with pertinent topics: Duffy’s presentation of the independence of women in society, and of the (seeming) irrelevance of men in the collection. These would be a fantastic resource for students, but also a great teaching resource to demonstrate how to hit the A* criteria.

This is the best available study guide to Michael Frayn’s novel Spies. This guide gives a detailed, thorough and perceptive analysis of themes, covering all you need to know. This guide is for teachers and students alike, covering such themes as war and conflict, heroism and bravery, courage and cowardice, spying and secrets, family, children and parents, love and Stephen’s sexual awakening, freedom and entrapment, gender representation, men and women, fear and danger, bullying and control, homesickness and wanderlust, memory. It draws a close parallel between Stephen and Uncle Peter, and investigates the roles of other characters, such as Mrs Hayward, Mr Hayward, Keith, Mr and Mrs Wheatley, Auntie Dee, Barbara Berrill, Deirdre, and Geoff. The guide also uncovers some mysteries not featured in other study guides, shedding light on Frayn’s use of names, of religious symbolism, of setting, of motifs, as well as his narrative, post-modernist style, first and third person narrator, and use of the present tense. There are detailed sections, with close language analysis, on the incidents involving Mrs Hayward’s basket and Keith’s bayonet, as well as links to The Go-Between, Frayn’s inspiration. There are chapter summaries for ease of reference. This is an essential study and revision guide, providing help notes for A level and for GCSE and IGCSE English Literature, for exam or coursework. The author, Claire Everitt, is an experienced A level examiner and teacher.