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
Laura Cumming has been chief art critic of the Observer since 1999. Her book, The Vanishing Man- In Pursuit of Velazquez, was Book of the Week on Radio 4, Wall Street Journal Book of the Year and a New York Times bestseller. It won the 2017 James Tait Black Biography Prize and was published to critical acclaim ('A riveting detective story- readers will be spellbound' Colm T ibin). Her first book, A Face to the World- On Self-Portraits, was described by Nick Hornby as 'Brilliant, fizzing with ideas not just about art but human nature' and by Julian Barnes as 'that rare item- an art book where the text is so enthralling that the pictures almost seem like an interruption'.
*Memoir of the Year* How we see -- and who see and what secrets
they choose to share -- is at the heart of this exquisitely
composed memoir... A peerless detective story that keeps you
guessing to the end
*The Sunday Times*
On Chapel Sands is much more than a search for truth. It is a
moving, many-sided human story of great depth and tenderness, and a
revelation of how art enriches life. In short, a masterpiece
*Sunday Times*
Cumming skilfully withholds key twists in the tale, revealing them
at just the right moment. There are surprises, but no shocks. Her
prose is too elegant for such gaudiness – composed and restrained
but empathetic
*The Times*
Brilliant... This book is a love letter to her [Cumming's] mother,
whose warmth, articulacy and survival instincts shine though. It's
also an intimate portrait of a village community, with its
storybook characters (butcher, baker, dairyman, bell-ringer,
gravedigger) and their wonderful old-fashioned names
*Guardian*
By turns beautiful, wistful, and ominous… the reasons behind the
kidnap, and the repurcussions, are every bit as complex as any
served up by fiction, and, oddly enough, the dénouement -- or
succession of dénouements -- is just as satisfying, perhaps more
so... a meditation on the way some people disappear, and time
erases memory... so familiar as to be universal, and will probably
ring bells with all but the sunniest reader (***** Five Stars)
*Mail on Sunday*
A deeply felt, forensic yet ultimately empathetic examination of
human motivation and its attendant sorrows, which is as much a
social history of the early 20th century as it is the story of one
family and its secrets… [Cumming's] intermeshing of art, time and
memory is superlative… The repercussions are interrogated by
Cumming with a hungry precision up to her last, revelatory
pages
*Daily Telegraph*
On Chapel Sands is a mystery solved through empathy and
interpretation. It feels as if this is the book Cumming has been
working towards, a deeply personal story but one that also draws on
practised skills as a critic and a writer. It is perfectly balanced
between the requirements of its narrative and the expression of its
author's passions. It is a moving tribute from a daughter to her
parents and grandparents. It is beautifully written
*Spectator*
Unputdownable… this memoir-cum-detective story becomes a remarkable
search for truth
*Sunday Telegraph*
A fascinating, beautifully written feat of detective work, evoking
bygone Britain during an era when so much was left unsaid
*Daily Mail, *Book of the Week**
A poetic blend of memoir and detective story… Cumming breathes new
life into the form, with her art critic’s analysis of the family
photographs which appear on many of the pages
*Evening Standard*
On Chapel Sands is a fascinating read, as painstaking as an
archaeological dig. Laura carefully sifts through years of fact,
speculation and omission until the truth comes to light
*Sunday Express*
Wonderful, haunting... a poetic study in half-lights and
fragments... a moving meditation... It is intimate and yet, at a
slant, draws in a larger web of moments beyond the limits of the
frame
*Literary Review*
This is a clear-eyed and careful portrait of a family unravelling
that stands out for the way in which it considers what isn’t being
shown as much as what is
*i*
Gripped from the sure-footed imagery of the opening sentence… the
fragmentary style of the book gives way to a more lyrical tone… The
lyricism of her relationship with images…is this book’s greatest
gift
*Oldie*
This utterly enthralling family memoir draws you into a mystery
from the childhood of the author's mother... spellbinding...
[Cumming] has also woven in photographs and artworks, which
beautifully illuminate and complement the narrative
*The Bookseller*
A modern masterpiece
*Guardian, *Summer Read of 2019**
An outstanding investigation into a family’s secrets and a
revelation of how art enriches life
*Sunday Times, *Summer Reads of 2019**
There can be no more gripping read than Observer art critic Laura
Cumming's On Chapel Sands... Nothing is as it seems right up to the
last page of this modern masterpiece
*Tablet, *Summer reads of 2019**
Its pleasures are slow, cumulative and utterly absorbing, it would
be the perfect choice for a holiday with long stretches of reading
time… A wonderful meditation on the half-truths and half-lights
that make up our understanding of a life
*Tablet, *Summer reads of 2019**
An absolute masterpiece. A book bursting with love – love lost and
love found, love misunderstood, unsaid and denied. I was spellbound
by Laura Cumming’s warm, intelligent, searching voice and her
intense scrutiny of images to reveal the unexpected and make us
think again. I am in complete awe. A beguilingly lovely book – as
big as the sea
*Keggie Carew, author of Dadland*
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