Valley of the Kings is both excavation of family history and an incantation of voices telling contemporary stories that startle. The grieving son and the street angel, the coke addict meeting Piers Plowman in the service-station, the singing nightingale on Universal Credit, the homeless person in Ancient Egypt, the famous sax player, the young lovers in their mythic hotel: all united in 'the exquisite ache of the human day'. Let 'the weight of the wind on tide' sing loud in this visionary debut which, in Graeme Ryan, introduces an exciting new voice to the UK poetry scene.