On Chapel Sands: My mother and other missing persons

On Chapel Sands: My mother and other missing persons by Laura Cumming


ISBN
9781784742478
Published
Binding
Hardcover
Pages
320

Uncovering the mystery of her mother's disappearance as a child- Laura Cumming, prize winning author and art critic, takes a closer look at her family story

In the autumn of 1929, a small child was kidnapped from a Lincolnshire beach. Five agonising days went by before she was found in a nearby village. The child remembered nothing of these events and nobody ever spoke of them at home. It was another fifty years before she even learned of the kidnap.

The girl became an artist and had a daughter, art writer Laura Cumming. Cumming grew up enthralled by her mother's strange tales of life in a seaside hamlet of the 1930s, and of the secrets and lies perpetuated by a whole community. So many puzzles remained to be solved. Cumming began with a few criss-crossing lives in this fraction of English coast -- the postman, the grocer, the elusive baker -- but soon her search spread right out across the globe as she discovered just how many lives were affected by what happened that day on the beach -- including her own.

On Chapel Sands is a book of mystery and memoir. Two narratives run through it- the mother's childhood tale; and Cumming's own pursuit of the truth. Humble objects light up the story- a pie dish, a carved box, an old Vick's jar. Letters, tickets, recipe books, even the particular slant of a copperplate hand give vital clues. And pictures of all kinds, from paintings to photographs, open up like doors to the truth. Above all, Cumming discovers how to look more closely at the family album -- with its curious gaps and missing persons -- finding crucial answers, captured in plain sight at the click of a shutter.
Christmas Catalogue 2024 x BookFrenzy
29.75
RRP: $35.00
15% off RRP


This product is unable to be ordered online. Please check in-store availability.
Instore Price: $35
On Chapel Sands: My mother and other missing persons is Out of Print

Other Titles by Laura Cumming

Thunderclap
29.99
25.49
15% Off
Thunderclap
59.99
50.99
15% Off

You might also like

The Golden Road
39.99
33.99
15% Off
The Soul
49.99
39.99
20% Off
Unruly
26.99
22.94
15% Off
Emperor of Rome
27.99
23.79
15% Off
Jerusalem
26.99
22.94
15% Off
Fake History
24.99
21.24
15% Off
Russia
26.99
22.94
15% Off
The World
29.99
25.49
15% Off
Mutiny On The Bounty
Peter FitzSimons
36.99
31.44
15% Off
Hell Ship
24.99
21.24
15% Off

RRP refers to the Recommended Retail Price as set out by the original publisher at time of release.
The RRP set by overseas publishers may vary to those set by local publishers due to exchange rates and shipping costs.
Due to our competitive pricing, we may have not sold all products at their original RRP.