Set in a shuttered pub – The Paper Lantern – in a village adjacent to the Chequers estate, Will Burns embarks on a series of walks in the Chiltern Hills, which become the landscape for evocations of a past scarred by trauma and a present lacking compass.
From local raves in secret valleys and the history of landmarks such as Halton House to the lockdown period, climate change and capitalism, The Paper Lantern creates a lived-in yet complicated portrait of a place.
‘Will Burns is a soulful English poet of the kind we don’t make enough of, fiercely intelligent, sensitive to the tiniest nuances of politics or history, attentive to the light and shade of human relationships’ Max Porter