RABBITBOX

by Wayne Holloway-Smith

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Pub Date 12 Mar 2026 | Archive Date 12 Feb 2026

General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction | Poetry & Verse

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Description

‘Powerful… Intense and unforgettable' MAX PORTER
‘I’m blown away… An astonishing work' AMY KEY
‘Amazing… Truly a feat' RAYMOND ANTROBUS

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A transfixing, heart-rending work which follows a mother and her young son living under the shadow of an all-consuming domestic threat, by T. S. Eliot Prize-shortlisted poet Wayne Holloway-Smith.

24 Coalbrook Street. The house is trembling with a father's anger. It makes a rabbit of a young boy, sends him burrowing into a wardrobe, and leaves his mother standing hapless and mute over the kitchen sink. In this house, how far can a mother’s comfort travel?

From the safety of his hiding place, from the magnitude of his fear, a young girl appears offering a way out. Taking him by the hand, reaching through time, she leads him elsewhere; a mother’s love dreaming him away from their reality to the promise – beautiful yet flickering – of a river.

Haunting, precise and tender, RABBITBOX heralds a major new work from one of Britain's most exciting writers.

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‘It takes a rare poet to make such magic of such brutality, but Holloway-Smith is the rarest kind: tender, curious, vivid, and wild. He bunches language like a fist, one that unravels into shadow butterflies, the idea of escape... RABBITBOX is my book of 2026.’ - JOELLE TAYLOR

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9781398552425
PRICE	£12.99 (GBP)
PAGES	144

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Additional Information

Average rating from 11 members

Featured Reviews

Ben D, Reviewer

RABBITBOX by the poet Wayne Holloway-Smith is an absolute tour-de-force, a beautiful, yet brutal, story of a young boy and his mother living under the violence of a man supposed to care for them. This absolutely floored me - it so vividly real, so truthful. It is a work which made me care deeply for the boy and his mother - and fear the father's appearance. Despite the brutality there is tenderness here, warmth and real honesty. Five stars from me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

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Stephen R, Educator

Sometimes you read a book that leaves indelible mark upon you; the subject and power of the content stays and keeps returning. Rabbitbox is such a book.

Wayne Holloway-Smith has written a book of such immense intensity and also" beauty". This is a book about domestic violence ; the abuse towards a mother and son by a drunken husband and father. How can a word such as beauty be used in this context ?

This is poetry that digs deep in to the lives of the mother and son and explores their raw emotions- the fear and violence but also the times of peace and calm- the sanctuaries they escape to for inner quiet and safety and this where the beauty of the prose pulls our feelings deeply as we know that there are moments of respite and tranquility amidst the 'eggshell' fear as moments can change in a second. ( tiptoeing around a drunken sleeping man)

This is a book that needs reading. Wayne Holloway-Smith's attention to the minutiae of life are magnified in their detail and power and the impact is incredible and somehow tender.

The place of safety for the boy is a wardrobe where he 'imagines' a young girl who by simply holding his hand aids a sense of escape out into the garden and beyond to water- she is his safety mechanism. Our feelings are longing for the young child and his mother to find an escape

I read this book twice and each time pausing after certain sections to breathe and reflect . This is a book that deserves attention and plaudits. One of the top reads for 2026 - no question ! And deservedly so.

Rabbitbox is shocking, tender, heart-breaking and so so powerful. Superb and highly recommended