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Average rating3
“Engrossing . . . evokes the subculture of the ‘mudlarks,’ who scour the banks for fragments of London’s past.”—The New Yorker The international bestseller that mesmerizingly charts quixotic journeys through London’s past, Mudlark thrills Anglophiles and history lovers alike. Long heralded as a city treasure herself, beloved “Mudlark” Lara Maiklem tirelessly treks along the Thames’ muddy shores, unearthing a myriad of artifacts and their stories—from Roman hairpins and perfectly preserved Tudor shoes to the clay pipes that were smoked in riverside taverns. Seamlessly interweaving reflections from her own life with meditations on the art of wandering, Maiklem ultimately delivers a treatise “as deep and as rich as the Thames and its treasures” (Stanley Tucci).
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I wished I had known the Thames much better so I could visualize where the author was talking about, which would have made this more of an armchair-travel like read for me. As it is, this more like a broad history of London, well back behind the Romans at times, she does have one chapter about how our century is represented [it's ugly I must say].
Maybe I'll reread this another time, and use a mapping tool that uses satellite imaging and street car views, to get a better visual.