Ruskin Park
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'A captivating family detective story and a poignant social history of Britain' Observer
After an isolated childhood of silence and secrets, Rory Cellan-Jones (broadcaster, Parkinson's podcaster and Sophie-the-rescue-dog owner) began a journey of discovery. Although he knew he was the child of a love affair between colleagues at the BBC, it wasn’t until his mother died and left him a file labelled 'For Rory' that he understood the true scandal and sadness of his parents' relationship, and the reasons for his fatherless upbringing.
A compelling, tender and emotive memoir of his difficult but ultimately heroic mother, Ruskin Park is also a tribute to an entire generation of women who were never given the chance to realise their potential.
Book details
- Format
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9781914613616
- Published
- 6 June 2024
- Pages
- 320
- Duration
- Dimensions
- 129 x 198 mm
- Genre
- Memoir and Biography
- Imprint
- September
Reviews
'Ruskin Park is so much more than a memoir. It is a tribute to an individual woman and a whole generation and class'
'Ruskin Park is Rory Cellan-Jones's touching tribute to both his parents, but particularly to the mother he came to know more fully from the letters she left behind'
'Almost unbearably moving, but never sentimental. A fascinating, intensely personal story, courageously told with unflinching honesty'
'I loved this highly evocative, unpretentious memoir. It’s a small-scale BBC drama in itself... an office love affair... a baby conceived during a stolen weekend... and a childhood of fish fingers prepared by a tired working mother in a south London council flat, it paints a Larkin-esque picture of the arc of one 20th-century woman's life, from passionate, ambitious and hopeful to lonely, depressed, nostalgic and "always a pain at Christmas"'
'Riveting, poignant'
