Sunday Magazine – August 04, 2019

54 S MAGAZINE ★ 4 AUGUST 2019

There are black-and-white photographs

throughout the book and art critic Laura uses

her scrupulous eye to interpret images of her

mother, most of them taken by George, and

decode the emotions behind the frozen poses.

At the start of the book, the characters

seem clearly defined – villainous George;

downtrodden Veda; the mysterious woman on

the bus who looked on Betty with such affection.

But as Laura uncovers clues, makes

connections and discovers startling new

information about Betty’s background, she is

forced to reassess her initial impressions.

On Chapel Sands is a fascinating read, as

painstaking as an archaeological dig. Laura

carefully sifts through years of fact, speculation

and omission until the truth comes to light.

Three Women ****

by Lisa Taddeo

(Bloomsbury, £16.99)

Every so often a book comes along that sets

the world alight and ignites feverish interest.

Reviewers rave about it and readers take to

social media to explain why everyone needs

to read it – and Three Women is definitely the

book of the moment.

Journalist Lisa Taddeo spent eight years

crisscrossing America, interviewing hundreds

of women and spending thousands of hours

researching female desire, a subject rarely

discussed and often dismissed. So it is

understandable that a book turning a spotlight

Charlot te

Heathcote

To p f i v e s

Fiction

Non-fiction

Children’s

The

lost girls

Women’s lives torn apart

by kidnap and desire

On Chapel Sands: My Mother

And Other Missing Persons ****

by Laura Cumming

(Chatto & Windus, £16.99)

Chapel Sands in Lincolnshire is a long strand

of beach where the wide horizon of the sky

sweeps down to the flat, expansive shoreline.

It’s a landscape where there’s no place to hide,

there are “no coves, dunes or rocks” to crouch

behind, yet one autumn day in 1929, Laura

Cumming’s mother, Betty, then aged three, was

snatched from the featureless beach, gone in

the blink of an eye.

Betty’s mother, Veda, immediately raised the

alarm. Father George, a travelling salesman,

was telegraphed and the police were called but

for five frantic days there was no news of the

kidnapped child. Then she was discovered in

a house 12 miles inland. Betty returned home

to a veil of silence. She was so young she had

no recollection of the incident – more than half

a century elapsed before she even learnt of it.

But to her daughter, Laura, the kidnapping

demanded investigation. And she discovered

it held the key to her mother’s identity. It has

been a lifetime’s work; her mother is now in her

early nineties. But Laura slowly, tantalisingly,

uncovers her family’s secrets, becoming the

voice that breaks that long silence.

She also wants to rescue her beloved artist

mother from the pains of the past. Betty

suffered an overwhelming lack of love in her

childhood and her formative years left her

anxious and uneasy. Her recollections of those

days are troubled, tarnished by her relationship

with George, a short-tempered, controlling man

who was determined to keep her sequestered.

She finally begins to flourish at the local

school, excelling in art and drama. Then one

day on the bus, a woman approached her

and said, “Your grandmother wants to see

you.” But Betty’s only grandmother was

dead... or so she thought.

1. Pinch Of Nom
   by Kate Allinson
   and Kay Featherstone
   (Bluebird, £20)


2. Battle Scars
   by Jason Fox (Corgi, £8.99)


3. This Is Going To Hurt
   by Adam Kay
   (Picador, £8.99)


4. The Secret Barrister
   by The Secret Barrister
   (Picador, £9.99)


5. The Fast 800 Recipe Book
   by Dr Clare Bailey
   and Justine Pattison
   (Short, £16.99)


6. The World’s Worst Teachers
   by David Walliams
   (HarperCollins, £14.99)


7. Captain Marvel:
   Higher, Further, Faster
   by Liza Palmer
   (Centum Books, £6.99)


8. Diary Of An Awesome
   Friendly Kid by Jeff Kinney
   (Puffin, £12.99)


9. Oi Duck-Billed Platypus!
   by Kes Gray and Jim Field
   (Hodder Children’s, £6.99)


10. Bad Dad by David Walliams
    (HarperCollins Children’s, £6.99)
    
    
    1. The Reckoning
       by John Grisham
       (Hodder, £7.99)
    
    
    2. Target
       by James Patterson
       (Arrow, £8.99)
    
    
    3. I Owe You One
       by Sophie Kinsella
       (Black Swan, £8.99)
    
    
    4. The Spanish Promise
       by Karen Swan
       (Pan, £7.99)
    
    
    5. The Tattooist
       Of Auschwitz
       by Heather Morris
       (Zaffre, £8.99)
    
    
    
    

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