Mudlarking

Mudlarking: The Sunday Times Bestseller A01 By (author) N Lara Maiklem 198 129 249 BC Paperback / softback 336 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Bloomsbury Publishing PLC London United Kingdom WN Natural history BM Memoirs 1DBKESL London, Greater London 1.3 DNC WN Memoirs Nature & the natural world: general interest 1DDU-GB-ESL London, Greater London 'Fascinating. Mudlarks are river scavengers, but Lara Maiklem is more like a time traveller' Guardian Mudlark (/'mAdla;k/) noun A person who scavenges for usable debris in the mud of a river or harbour Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for nearly twenty years, in pursuit of the objects the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hairpins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. What began as a search for solitude came to reveal the story of a city, its people and their lost ways of life. *The No. 2 Sunday Times bestseller and the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, now with full colour images* 'Enchanting . . . I am quite tempted to join Maiklem on the riverbed looking for treasure' Sunday Times 'Reveals to us the fascinating and poignant micro-world of London's history' Hallie Rubenhold, Baillie Gifford Prize-winning author of The Five 'No one has looked at these odd corners since Sherlock Holmes' Sunday Telegraph 'A quirky and delightful read, wonderfully evocative of London's gloopy, ghost-haunted river' Daily Mail SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2020 This is a quirky and delightful read, wonderfully evocative of London's gloopy, ghost-haunted river * Daily Mail * A treasure. One of the best books I've read in years -- Tracy Borman Reveals to us the fascinating and poignant micro-world of London's history -- Hallie Rubenhold Enchanting. It made even a capsized cynic like me feel more sentimental about the Thames. In fact, I am quite tempted to join Maiklem on the riverbed looking for treasure * Sunday Times * Mudlarks are river scavengers, but Lara Maiklem is more like a time traveller. Her prose has none of the self-conscious sensibility that defines contemporary nature writing; her thoughtful sentences read as though she were talking to herself. There is a great deal to learn from these pages, not least the insight that finding lost things is the best way of losing yourself. It is, above all, her wisdom that makes Lara Maiklem such restful company * Guardian * Maiklem persists, in this weirdly engaging book, in seeking out a curious beauty. Maiklem's description of the fog is worthy of Dickens or Joseph Conrad. Maiklem pungently evokes the broken bridges, slippery river stairs, causeways, jetties and boatyards. No one has looked at these odd corners since Sherlock Holmes * Sunday Telegraph * Maiklem's storytelling shines. Her imagined histories for her special finds read like waterborne fairy stories, a hard kernel of truth clothed in mythical finery. Reading it, I felt like I was down on the foreshore myself, sifting through the pages for titbits * Daily Telegraph * A lovely, lyrical, gently meandering book, filled with fascinating diversions and detail * Literary Review * Maiklem's enthusiasm is infectious, and her reimagining of the lives of those who parted with these items is an illuminated joy * i * Whoever buys it is blessed. I love the fact that [Maiklem] makes herself the centre of this huge, timeless, endless story that reaches from the distant past and flows past all our consciousnesses out to a place far beyond the reach of the estuary. Lara is such a natural writer; every page just tingles with her imagination. It is a love letter to life itself -- Ian Mortimer Maiklem has an infectious love of linking the present with the past. It is historic detail like this that makes Mudlarking much more than just a lengthy list of discarded bric-a-brac. Lara is a romantic, motivated primarily by the human stories behind the objects. Curiosity may kill the cat, but it is the making of many an author. And Lara has it in spades * Daily Mail * Maiklem augments the Thamesian tally, summoning old Londoners out of silty suspension from a discarded Victoria Cross or a pot-lid. There are other mudlarking books, but this one offers engaging insight into an amphibian ambience of strongly marked characters, semi-secret exploits and outlandish theories. Maiklem is not alone in resorting to the river for salvation as much as salvage * Spectator * A beautifully written memoir of one woman's relationship with the sacred Thames and the ghosts of its past. Lara Maiklem's book on mudlarking is as deep and as rich as the Thames and its treasures. Fascinating -- Stanley Tucci A hybrid of personal memoir, London history and literary cabinet of curiosities * Telegraph * Maiklem's knowledge and skill are evident and unarguable. [She] leaves the door open for the rest of us: with a bit of luck and patience you too, she suggests, could spot something interesting on the foreshore, ask around, take it to a museum and end up owning a little bit of history. What a thrill -- Caught by the River [An] enthralling and evocative history of London and its people -- Book of the Month * Bookseller * Lara Maiklem moved from her family's farm to London in the 1990s and has been mudlarking along the River Thames for fifteen years. She now lives with her family on the Kent coast within easy reach of the river, which she visits as regularly as the tides permit. This is her first book. Twitter: @LondonMudlark / Instagram: @london.mudlark 05032020 02 RRP including tax GB GBP 9.99 0.00 9.99 This price includes a tax element GB 20 Available 56 BERT BKSPD GARD Y 'Fascinating. Mudlarks are river scavengers, but Lara Maiklem is more like a time traveller' Guardian Mudlark (/'mAdla;k/) noun A person who scavenges for usable debris in the mud of a river or harbour Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for nearly twenty years, in pursuit of the objects the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hairpins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. What began as a search for solitude came to reveal the story of a city, its people and their lost ways of life. *The No. 2 Sunday Times bestseller and the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, now with full colour images* 'Enchanting . . . I am quite tempted to join Maiklem on the riverbed looking for treasure' Sunday Times 'Reveals to us the fascinating and poignant micro-world of London's history' Hallie Rubenhold, Baillie Gifford Prize-winning author of The Five 'No one has looked at these odd corners since Sherlock Holmes' Sunday Telegraph 'A quirky and delightful read, wonderfully evocative of London's gloopy, ghost-haunted river' Daily Mail SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2020