"I know of no living poet with a more wide-ranging fictive imagination than Russell Thorburn. His poetry is not like a novel; it's like seven or eight sometimes interconnected novels, plus a three-volume memoir. If you are new to these worlds of Thorburn, welcome! His new collection, And the Heart Will Not Quicken, is an ideal, inviting place to begin, knowing decades of rich narrative histories have arrived here and are also waiting when you want them. If you've been reading Thorburn for many years, you'll find in this new book the good, familiar company of old friends and meet some irresistible new ones, too." -Jonathan Johnson, author of Pine