A Family Behind Glass is the first collection of poetry by Matthew Hedley Stoppard, painting a vivid picture of a 1990s childhood (complete with miniature waistcoats and rusting swing-sets), then taking us through to the present-day realities of the poet's life as a father to his own family.

With a particularly English literary sensibility, every line crackles with half-forgotten but instantly recognisable characters, images and locations, somehow evoking a nostalgia for the here-and-now - and everything that is 'behind glass', just beyond our reach.


“Uses inventive language and striking imagery ... one of the most arresting poetry collections of the year.”
— John Irving Clarke, The Guardian

“Matthew Hedley Stoppard's poetic voice is truly original and always compelling … He weaves the everyday into wonderfully unravelling works of art. Rarely is humour deployed to tell so much truth.”
— James Nash

“Inventive, acutely observed and often searingly comic ... his subjects are described with a linguistic brio of fizzing lines and images. Buy the collection immediately.”
— Mike Di Placido