An ingeniously constructed, labyrinthine journey through myth, art, literature, history, archaeology and memoir, by the Baillie Gifford-shortlisted author
Charlotte Higgins's previous books include the acclaimed Under Another Sky- Journeys in Roman Britain, which was shortlisted for awards including the Samuel Johnson (now Baillie Gifford) Prize for non-fiction, and Red Thread, which was a Radio 4 Book of the Week and won the Arnold Bennett Prize 2019. She is chief culture writer of the Guardian, a past winner of the Classical Association prize, and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. She lives in London.
Charlotte Higgins's Red Thread is a masterwork, an open-eyed
analysis of the everyday mazery we face without even realising it,
and an understanding of psychic and narrative architecture that's a
pretty crucial piece of equipment for wherever and whenever we find
ourselves lost. I read it on the balcony of a hotel in Rome... and
it was as if the city itself opened playfully and thoughtfully
around the reading experience in its amalgam of pasts and presents,
histories and mysteries.
Any bookshelf would be graced by the presence of [Red Thread]… [it]
ask[s] readers to surrender to the unpredictable pleasures of
getting lost… playful and gorgeously written.
*Guardian*
A serious, substantial, scholarly and yet also highly personal book
about mazes… Red Thread is a book to admire as much as to
enjoy.
*Spectator*
[Charlotte Higgins] is no ordinary author. Her thrillingly original
book – it really is like no other – is itself a sort of maze of
facts and thoughts, ancient tales and modern phenomena… on every
page there is a sparkling idea or a fascinating piece of
information. It is also beautifully written… a beautifully produced
volume, full of colour illustrations of sculptures and paintings
and tantalising maps of mazes.
*Mail on Sunday*
In this beautifully produced and richly illustrated book… Charlotte
Higgins takes us on a fascinating meander through the art and
literature of the last 2,500 years… After reading this book you
will see labyrinths everywhere.
*Irish Times*
The joy of travelling with Higgins… [is that Red Thread] delights
in the blinking movement from one subject to the next. In a few
pages, we travel from Middlemarch to Ovid, from Arachne to
Velázquez and his painting The Spinners and then back to George
Eliot. It sounds dizzying; in truth it is illuminating.
*New Statesman*
This is a book to get gloriously lost in… It’s a lovely, wayward
meander, combining memoir with surprising historical facts,
unexpected connections and intriguing, imaginative
speculations.
*Psychologies *Book of the Month**
Higgins’ range is admirably, enviably broad… there is no shortage
of visual pleasure in Red Thread.
*Daily Telegraph*
Charlotte Higgins’ Red Thread is subtitled “On Mazes And
Labyrinths” but is much more than that. It takes a nimble thinker
to link the ancient stories of the Minotaur to archeological
fabrication in the Edwardian era and to Arnold Bennett and the
Potteries... [one] of the most interesting books this year.
*Scotsman, *Books of the Year**
Fascinating… enriching… very satisfying.
*Financial Times*
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