Statues Without Shadows - Softcover

'Compulsive' -- Elle 20050801 'A candle in the dark of family life' -- The Times 20050716 'Thoughtful... full of poignant reflections on the nature of loss and the importance of understanding the past in order to shape the future' -- BOOK OF THE WEEK, Daily Mail 20050710 'Perceptive, immaculately constructed, and spiced with black humour, this is a model for how a candid memoir can be truthfully written without robbing the dead of their dignity. It suggests comparison, in its own admirable way, with Lorna Sage's marvellous Bad Blood, that standard against which all studies of family history must be measured.' -- Sunday Times 20050812 'Unfolds with wit, candour and delicacy... told with novelistic flair' -- London Review of Books 20060525

Anna grew up accepting that her parents were glamorous but mysterious figures, who had both died by the time she was seven. It was only when she was in her thirties that she discovered they had both committed suicide. As she began to search for the truth about her parents, she uncovered details about their fascinating and incredibly divergent backgrounds: her father's family can trace their ancestry to King James II. Her mother came from a Welsh mining family. They met in 1950s literary London and fell in love. But a year after Anna was born, her mother was dead. The book explores the nature of loss, exile, betrayal and Anna's own deep-rooted instinct to refuse the horrors of her past and transcend the legacy of her parents. This is a compelling, moving story of uncovering the past in order to reclaim the future.