Sagrada Familia is Helen Anderson's exploration of the isolation and erasure involved in loss, and a reflection 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 us from 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 of everyday survival. The poet shares her attempts to frame a language to deal with multiple shifts in normality, whether on the beaches of her home in the North East of England or abroad. Like a soundtrack which persists even when the backdrop changes, raw pain persists in the face of attempts to find comfort in travel, nature, religion, and the re-shaping of memories: the only way forward is to allow it to run its course. Developing its motif of light forcing through darkness, Sagrada Familia ends on an uplifting, rallying note. The final poems hint at happiness in a new - albeit unexpected - way of life, by means of real change 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 can become a bridge towards growth and to living on your own terms.
