{"product_id":"a-year-of-last-things-by-michael-ondaatje","title":"A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith A Year of Last Things, acclaimed novelist Michael Ondaatje returns to poetry, looking back on a life of displacement and discovery'My life always stops for a new book by him' JHUMPA LAHIRI\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'A generous, moving book' GUARDIAN\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn in Sri Lanka during the Second World War, Ondaatje was sent as a child to school in London, and later moved to Canada. While he has lived there since, these poems reflect the life of a writer, traveller and watcher of the world – describing himself as a 'mongrel', someone born out of diverse cultures. Here, rediscovering the influence of every border crossed, he moves back and forth in time, from a childhood in Sri Lanka to Molière’s chair during his last stage performance, from icons in Bulgarian churches to the Californian coast and loved Canadian rivers, merging memory with the present, looking back on a life of displacement and discovery, love and loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs he writes in the opening poem:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReading the lines he loves\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehe slips them into a pocket,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewishes to die with his clothes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efull of torn-free stanzas\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eand the telephone numbers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eof his children in far cities\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePoetry – where language is made to work hardest and burns with a gem-like flame - is what Ondaatje has returned to in this intimate history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFormat:Paperback \/ softback 128 pages\u003cbr\u003ePublisher:Vintage Publishing\u003cbr\u003eImprint:Jonathan Cape\u003cbr\u003eISBN:9781787335042\u003cbr\u003ePublished:12 Mar 2026\u003cbr\u003eClassifications:Poetry, Poetry by individual poets, Fiction: special features\u003cbr\u003eWeight:148g\u003cbr\u003eDimensions:131 x 197 x 13 (mm)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wave of Nostalgia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63777424671069,"sku":null,"price":13.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0934\/8838\/2301\/files\/9781787335042.jpg?v=1773060220","url":"https:\/\/waveofnostalgia.co.uk\/products\/a-year-of-last-things-by-michael-ondaatje","provider":"Wave of Nostalgia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}