To be fully urban at a time when others are intrinsically, even fiercely, suburban is an accomplishment. Rosemary Tonks, who has seen herself as a modern Baudelaire, has written contemporary poems and novels that have established her in the eyes of many as "the poet of the modern metropolis."

Writing novels in a highly personal style--more as a poet than a novelist, especially in her early fiction--Tonks has not received her full due of critical attention and favor, although her grasp of the English language and her sense of the city (London) are brilliant. Her novels tend to be a kind of fictional autobiography in which she not only plays the leading role but one or two supporting ones as well. She includes incidents and experiences directly from her past, often with only a thin fictional veil to disguise them. Some critics feel that this is a fault...