‘Gwen Raverat’s account of growing up as a member of the extended Darwin clan in Victorian Cambridge has never been out of print since it was first published in 1952, and it has recently been reissued as a collector’s hardback by Slightly Foxed.
“Humour, tenderness and affection are the keynotes of Period Piece,” Hazel Wood writes in her introduction, “but there is a fierce and passionate undercurrent that tells you something about the artist Gwen became.” Period Piece features punting, picnics on Grantchester Meadows and problems with corsets and bicycles, all illustrated with Raverat’s delightful drawings, often featuring the family’s put-upon dog . . . It’s the perfect book to read in a garden on these sunny summer days.’