Book review: Pavilion

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By Deborah Tyler-Bennett
Published by Smokestack Books

Rex Whistler's allegory of H.R.H. the Prince Regent Awakening the Spirit of Brighton dons the front cover of Pavilion, Deborah Tyler-Bennett’s second collection of poems, and is a perfect pictorial representation of the self-indulgent and gaudy characters that roam the pages of the little booklet.

The carefully chosen words of Tyler-Bennett’s pen kept me company many times while sitting at the beach. The West Pier, one of Brighton’s icons, stars in many of the poems. My favourites, West Pier Serenade and The Brighton Mystery, allow readers to catch a glimpse of a pier that is derelict by day and alive by night, the setting of romantic moonlit dances.

Browse the pages and the “spirit of Brighton” truly comes alive, with scenes of grandeur and decadence and a city populated by holidaying tourists, thugs, homeless people and all those picturesque characters that can be found between the piers.

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