“Olds writes “poetry more faithful to the felt truth of reality than any prose could be.” – Richard Wakefield.

She has the comic's knack of placing a lot of weight on thin-shouldered words, words blurred by common currency which are suddenly brought into sharp focus and don't really want to be. Beyond the laughs there's great poignancy - Observer

pared-down precision and scorching intensity - Helen Dunmore

Beautiful Girls is not a book for the faint-hearted: it will survive as testament to poetry's force in overcoming - Chris McCabe

Not every man has gentians in his house in Soft September, at slow, Sad Michaelmas. - D.H. Lawrence 'Bavarian Gentians'