Sign-In
Cart
The Ash Museum
Paperback
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781789559019
Publisher: Legends Press
Published: Jul 1 2022
Pages: 364
Weight: 0.65
Height: 1.02 Width: 5.04 Depth: 7.72
Language: English
Through ten decades and across three continents, The Ash Museum is an intergenerational story of loss, migration and the search for somewhere to feel at home.
1944. The Battle of Kohima. James Ash dies leaving behind two families: his 'wife' Josmi and two children, Jay and Molly, and his parents and sister in England who know nothing about his Indian family.
2012. Emmie is raising her own daughter, Jasmine, in a world she wants to be very different from the racist England of her childhood. Her father, Jay, doesn't even have a photograph of the mother he lost and still refuses to discuss his life in India. Emmie finds comfort in the local museum - a treasure trove of another family's stories and artefacts.
Little does Emmie know that with each generation, her own story holds secrets and fascinations that she could only dream of.
'In her luminous fourth novel, Rebecca Smith has managed to distil ten decades of a fractured family history into a resonant and tightly woven structure that takes us on an extraordinary journey. It is a memory bank of treasures and as much a moving story about the legacy of Colonialism as it is a reflection on contemporary life and values. Her wonderful perspectives and closely observed (and often, very funny) details about those lives, past and present, are a triumph.'Christie Hickman, Books Editor, S Magazine
'A beautifully written, multi-generational tale full of poignant themes, vibrant setting packed with observation and characters you will want to be friends with.'Ella Dove, novelist and Commissioning Editor at Good Housekeeping, Prima and Red magazines
'What a fabulous new novel from a brilliant writer. Spinning through time and space, The Ash Museum is another country, filled with lively, emotional set-pieces, turned like physical memories from one generation to another. Endlessly exciting in its filmic, short, sharp scenes, grippingly narrative in its interwoven tales of loss and identity and home, Rebecca Smith's book demonstrates, yet again, her gift for vivid humour and deep empathy, all stirred up in her trademark scintillating prose.'Philip Hoare, winner of the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction
'A timely and acutely observed novel about family and the circle of life. Touching, universal and utterly relatable, as we all search for our own view just like Jay did.'Carmel Harrington, author of My Pear-Shaped Life, A Thousand Roads Home
Also from
Smith, Rebecca
A Consensus Handbook: Co-operative Decision Making for activists, co-ops and communities
Smith, Rebecca
Westphal, Rhiannon
Hertzberg, Max
Paperback
24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies That Destroyed Faith in Corporate America
Smith, Rebecca
Emshwiller, John R.
Paperback
A fast approach to raising a happy child: A brief guide to successful parenting
Smith, Rebecca
Paperback
101 Fun Facts About Having Toddlers: The Challenging and Hilarious Life of Adults Under the Thumb of Tiny Dictators
Smith, Rebecca
Paperback
Writing for College: the Eight Step Program to Writing Academic Argument Papers Using the Template Method
Smith, Rebecca
Paperback
Motivation on Demand: Techniques to Find Inspiration and Motivation Anytime, Anywhere
Smith, Rebecca
Tiwari, Roshan
Paperback
Also in
General Fiction
Elizabeth Spencer: Novels & Stories (Loa #344): The Voice at the Back Door / The Light in the Piazza / Knights and Dragons / Stories
Spencer, Elizabeth
Hardcover
Anniversaries, Volume 2: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl, April 1968-August 1968
Johnson, Uwe
Paperback
Philip Roth: Novels 1973-1977 (Loa #165): The Great American Novel / My Life as a Man / The Professor of Desire
Roth, Philip
Hardcover
John Updike: Novels 1978-1984 (Loa #339): The Coup / Rabbit Is Rich / The Witches of Eastwick
Updike, John
Hardcover
Selected Writings: Robert Musil: Young Torless, Three Women, the Perfecting of a Love, and Other Writings
Agee, Joel
Musil, Robert
Paperback