{"product_id":"these-silent-mansions-a-life-in-graveyards-9780099587149","title":"These Silent Mansions: A Life in Graveyards","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A refreshingly original meditation on a huge but widely ignored subject: the relationship between the living and the dead... I wish I had written it myself.' \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGraveyards are oases: places of escape, of peace and reflection. Each is a garden or nature reserve, but also a site of commemoration, where the past is close enough to touch: a liminal place, at the border of the living world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean Sprackland's prize-winning book, \u003ci\u003eStrands\u003c\/i\u003e, brought to life the histories of objects found on a beach. \u003ci\u003eThese Silent Mansions\u003c\/i\u003e is also an uncovering of individual stories: vivid, touching and intimately told. Sprackland travels back through her own life, revisiting graveyards in the ordinary towns and cities she has called home, seeking out others who lived, died and are remembered or forgotten there. With her poet's eye, she makes chance discoveries among the stones and inscriptions: a notorious smuggler tucked up in a sleepy churchyard; ancient coins unearthed on a secret burial ground; a slow-worm basking in the sun. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThese Silent Mansions\u003c\/i\u003e is an elegant, exhilarating meditation on the relationship between the living and the dead, the nature of time and loss, and how - in this restless, accelerated world - we can connect the here with the elsewhere, the present with the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/30\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780099587149\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240","brand":"Jean Sprackland","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39463489798325,"sku":"9780099587149","price":16.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_bb07063b-2b5b-4b2b-8e1f-ccc9d6022fcf.jpg?v=1615924374","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/these-silent-mansions-a-life-in-graveyards-9780099587149","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}