"Originality may not be everything in poetry, but it's hard enough to find at any moment in literary history. Necessary Evil is a consummate book, and of an instantly insistent originality. With it Sherborne goes to the top of Australian poetry - nobody is writing better." - Peter Porter

Necessary Evil contains magnificently realistic poems of family, racing and journalism as well as haunting evocations of the bush. Sometimes satirical and sometimes deeply personal, it confirms Sherborne as a poet possessing both verbal brilliance and an unmistakable vision.