And I actually loved the pictures, particularly the Bruegel. Both her parents were artists and she is an art historian and the Observer’s art critic, so this was another way for her to get a handle on the events. At first I found this rather strange, but then realised that she was giving a depth to the story. Laura Cumming also illustrates this story with the use of several paintings. They appear at the end of the book when they visit England to track Hilda's story and find their half-sister. However, George is her real father, and her real mother, Hilda Blanchard, was forbidden from seeing her and had emigrated to Australia where she married and had two daughters. It is revealed that Betty lived with George and Veda Elston as their adopted daughter. She intersperses this with details of her mother's life through the years, sometimes in her mother's own words – her unhappy, solitary childhood and adolescence, her escape to art college and then her career and marriage. What she uncovers is a conspiracy of silence involving the whole community and one that takes some resolving. And nobody ever speaks of this again.ĭecades later her daughter, Laura Cumming, delves into her mother's early life (her mother now calls herself Elizabeth) using old family photographs, letters and other items to unlock the mystery. She is 3 years old and will remember nothing of this event, or her life before.

After 5 days she is discovered safe and well. Leonards on the Lincolnshire coast in the autumn of 1929. It's a blend of memoir and detective story, which was published last year to great acclaim.īetty Elston (originally called Grace) is kidnapped from the beach at Chapel St. I found On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming an absorbing and intriguing book.

On chapel sands review