Period Piece

Review An altogether delightful book . . . the humour is infectious. ― Times Literary Supplement I have never read a more enjoyable book of childhood memoirs. -- Raymond Mortimer ― Sunday Times An account of the eccentric mores of her childhood among Darwins descendants, first published in 1952. A best-seller at the time, it's still a pretty near perfect book. -- Bee Wilson ― New Statesman One of the surprise literary hits of the Fifties . . . [Raverat has] quiet grace and subtle charm. -- Robert McCrum ― Observer Product Description This new edition celebrates the 65th anniversary of the publication of Period Piece, which has never been out of print. Period Piece is the classic memoir of a Cambridge childhood, written by Charles Darwin's granddaughter. It evokes a time when long summer days were disturbed by nothing noisier than a horse, and long winter nights were lit only by candle or gas lamp. It is a shrewd, touching and comic portrait of eccentric relations, and of Cambridge society when it was small enough to be treated as an extension of the family. As a young girl Gwen thought it impossible that she could ever succeed as an artist, and yet the observations of the small incidents of life, recorded here in delightful prose and beautiful illustrations, reveal an artist's careful eye. Book Description This new edition celebrates the 65th anniversary of the publication of Period Piece, which has never been out of print. About the Author Gwen Raverat (1885-1957) was the granddaughter of Charles Darwin. In 1911 she married the French painter Jacques Raverat, and she was an artist, illustrator and wood engraver in her own right. She published her memoir, Period Piece, in 1952.