'A captivating family detective story and a poignant social history of Britain' Observer
After an isolated childhood of silence and secrets, Rory Cellan-Jones (broadcaster, Parkinson's podcaster and Sophie-the-rescue-dog owner) began a journey of discovery. Although he knew he was the child of a love affair between colleagues at the BBC, it wasn’t until his mother died and left him a file labelled 'For Rory' that he understood the true scandal and sadness of his parents' relationship, and the reasons for his fatherless upbringing.
A compelling, tender and emotive memoir of his difficult but ultimately heroic mother, Ruskin Park is also a tribute to an entire generation of women who were never given the chance to realise their potential.
- Authors:
- Rory Cellan-Jones
- Year Published:
-
2023
- Country of Publication:
-
United Kingdom
- Format:
-
Hardback
- ISBN:
-
9781914613432
- Publication Date:
-
07/09/2023
- Publisher:
-
Duckworth Books
- Number of Pages:
-
320
- Language:
-
English
- SKU:
- 9781914613432
Rory Cellan-Jones was the BBC’s principal technology correspondent until 2021. He now writes an influential Substack column Always On, and through this and his Twitter account @ruskin147 he spreads awareness of technological developments in the fields of medicine and health care. Together with Jeremy Paxman and others he hosts Movers and Shakers, about Parkinson's, which won the 2024 Broadcasting Press Guild’s Podcast of the Year award. His other books are Dot.Bomb: The Rise and Fall of Dot.com Britain, Always On: Hope and Fear in the Smartphone Era and Sophie From Romania: A Year of Love and Hope with a Rescue Dog.
'Ruskin Park is so much more than a memoir. It is a tribute to an individual woman and a whole generation and class' Justin Webb, Sunday Times 'Ruskin Park is Rory Cellan-Jones's touching tribute to both his parents, but particularly to the mother he came to know more fully from the letters she left behind' Daily Mail 'Almost unbearably moving, but never sentimental. A fascinating, intensely personal story, courageously told with unflinching honesty' Adrian Chiles 'I loved this highly evocative, unpretentious memoir. It’s a small-scale BBC drama in itself... an office love affair... a baby conceived during a stolen weekend... and a childhood of fish fingers prepared by a tired working mother in a south London council flat, it paints a Larkin-esque picture of the arc of one 20th-century woman's life, from passionate, ambitious and hopeful to lonely, depressed, nostalgic and 'always a pain at Christmas'' The Times 'Riveting, poignant' TLS
