The Girl on the Wall: One Life's Rich Tapestry

(Hardback)

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Description

The girl on the wall was a photo of eleven year old Jean Baggott, taken in 1948. She was an ordinary girl, full of hope for the future, but a product of her time and not expected to achieve anything beyond marriage and motherhood. But on New Year's Eve 1999 the woman that young Jean had become made a promise to herself - to live more for herself rather than for others. Inspired by the ceilings of Lincolnshire's Burghley House and by the History degree she had begun, Jean began to stitch a tapestry which looked back at her life and the changing world around her. It took sixteen months to complete.

The tapestry consists of over 70 intersecting circles and each circle is accompanied by a vignette from Jean's life. This is a charming and very personal story that encompasses the deprivations of war and the post-war period, her family life and growing from childhood to adulthood, her enduring love of the music of Pink Floyd and the book The Lord of the Rings, her observations of the effects of 'progress' on her daily life and the changing face of popular culture. Her story reveals an ordinary life in extraordinary detail. The result is a truly unique, touching portrait of a seemingly average British woman's life. To stand back and look at the tapestry is to be struck by the richness of one human journey, from 1940 to the present day. The girl on the wall would be proud.

Reviews

Stop all the reading clocks because the most exquisite book arrived yesterday; it's quite taken my breath away... [it is] a remarkable and unique visual representation of her life, memories and associations in all their astonishing and intricate detail and it really is the most stunning work of art. -- DoveGrey Reader
The writing style is knowledgeable yet unpretentious and with an intimacy that reveals Jean to be a wonderful raconteur. -- DoveGrey Reader
The author's words convey a richness of a life well-lived. -- Embroidery Magazine
An engrossing read. -- BBC World of Cross-Stitching Magazine
A fascinating and intricate project. -- Cross-Stitcher Magazine
A unique record of her life and times... -- Daily Mail
The most moving moments of the past 70 years captured in one woman's extraordinary embroidered memoir. -- Daily Mail
Jean Baggott has not only written about her life, she has produced an exceptional cross-stitch tapestry that details events in her own life and records those momentous historical events that have formed its backdrop. -- Family Tree Magazine
It could be the stuff of misery memoirs but in Jean Baggott's nimble fingers, this life's rich tapestry positively shimmers. -- Sunday Herald
A remarkable woman tells the story of her remarkable life. -- Leamington Spa Courier
A most extraordinary new book... there are valuable observations in the book too complex to be rendered in thread... her work can be read as a quietly profound celebration. -- Sunday Telegraph
Unique. -- Susan Hill, The Lady Magazine
A mother's day gift to delight in. -- The Bookseller
An extraordinary piece of work. A Unique book. -- Bookseller
Her memoir evokes a childhood whose privations did nothing to stop her enjoying a full and satisfying life. Those who were old enough to remember those days will thank her for bringing them back; others will learn perhaps for the first time what they were really like. -- Nicholas Bagnall, Sunday Telegraph

Author Bio

Jean Baggott was born in 1937 and lives in Warwick. She has lived in various parts of the Midlands for most of her life and remains passionate about her Black Country roots. She is now in her final year of a degree in History at the University of Warwick.