Joan Sampson Tucker was born in England, of Anglo-Welsh parentage. The experience of having lived half her life in the UK and the other half in Tasmania has afforded her an insight which is both subjective and objective regarding both hemispheres, a privilege she has felt compelled to exploit in this anthology. "Her approach to the two worlds of her poetry is perceptive, sympathetic and motivated by an affection and knowledge which never lapses into sentimentality" (Bruce Dawe) The collection covers a very wide spectrum of themes, from the profoundly serious to the light and incongruous, so these poems have been grouped under eight title-page headings, reflecting all the influential aspects of life from which her inspiration has sprung.