Bloomsbury Publishing, 5 March 2020

Pb, 336 pp

Mudlark (/'mAdla;k/) noun A person who scavenges for usable debris in the mud of a river or harbour

Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for nearly twenty years, in pursuit of the objects the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hairpins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. What began as a search for solitude came to reveal the story of a city, its people and their lost ways of life.

A lovely, lyrical, gently meandering book, filled with fascinating diversions and detail, Literary Review

Maiklem's enthusiasm is infectious, and her reimagining of the lives of those who parted with these items is an illuminated joy, i