Eastbourne author Gabrielle Yetter this month releases her new book, And The Clouds Parted.

The book is an illustrated collection of poetry which arose out of lockdown and features thirty inspirational and insightful poems dealing with loss, hope, love, and compassion.

“My first poem came about when I was on a bike ride in March 2020,” said Gabrielle. “The world had just gone into lockdown, and everything felt frightening, dark, and foreboding. That morning was misty and damp until all of a sudden, the sun broke through, the air warmed, and the clouds scattered. So came the inspiration for my first poem, And The Clouds Parted. It felt as though we all needed something to believe in and to know there was hope at the end of the darkness.”

As a former journalist, Gabrielle observed the world around her and these poems include pieces about the “invisible people”: elderly women who are often unseen (Invisible), young men perceived as threatening (Buddy) and those struggling with depression in losing loved ones (Moving On). Her collaboration with Eastbourne artist, Lucy Dean, resulted in a book filled with poignant images of watercolour and line drawings to accompany the poetry.

“Lucy’s art was a perfect complement to my words,” said Gabrielle. “She has a wonderful insight and some of the images she created brought me to tears when I first saw them.”

And The Clouds Parted is Gabrielle’s first poetry book. Author of Whisper of the Lotus (published in 2020), she has also written childrens’ books, a travel and lifestyle book (Just Go! Leave the Treadmill for a World of Adventure) with her husband, Skip, and two non-fiction books about her life in Cambodia. She has received high praise, with one reviewer saying: "She absorbs the mood, intuits the emotions at the core, and then transforms it, with her beautiful words and syntax, into a song on paper, cradling every subtle nuance of human emotion."

Gabrielle has received high praise, with one reviewer saying: "She absorbs the mood, intuits the emotions at the core, and then transforms it, with her beautiful words and syntax, into a song on paper, cradling every subtle nuance of human emotion

Lucy Dean is an artist and teacher with a degree and background in theatre design who will be exhibiting her work next year at the Sussex Prairie Gardens.

And The Clouds Parted is available on Amazon for £7.99.