A BEACHCOMBER’S BOUNTY
BOOK RAG AND BONE
BY LISA WOOLLETT, JOHN MURRAY, £16.99 (HB)
Beachcombing in Cornwall and mudlarking by the Thames, Lisa Woollett meditates on what survives of us for posterity, and how the everyday detritus of our lives fits into the bigger historical picture.
Each new object sets off a train of thought and opens up a new path into history: a piece of a clay tobacco pipe takes us back to the slave trade, a farthing from 1942 takes us to the London slums. This is both an intimate family history and a broader social history of refuse collecting, reusing and recycling, prompting “wayward conversations” with relatives as Woollett traces the generations who came before her:
