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As a child, David Reynolds developed a fascination with the story of his grandfather, now long dead, who had mysteriously disappeared from London decades earlier. Reynolds interrogated relatives, read diaries and over time slowly pieced together a spellbinding story. The trail led from Dalstan in London’s East End to a remote town in Manitoba, on the edge of the Canadian prairies, by way of a tragic romance in Victorian London, and the harsh life of an impoverished exile.
In these pages Reynolds tells how he unearthed the colourful story of his East End forebears as he came of age in the wildly contrasting milieu of London in the swinging Sixties. Family members from four generations are beautifully drawn—from his great-aunt, a music hall artiste who walked on her hands while playing the violin with her feet, to Reynolds’s own father, a complex man best described as a warm-hearted monster.
Humorous, nostalgic and beautifully written, Swan River poignantly plays out the themes of love, loss and the human need for roots and dignity that exist in every age.
In these pages Reynolds tells how he unearthed the colourful story of his East End forebears as he came of age in the wildly contrasting milieu of London in the swinging Sixties. Family members from four generations are beautifully drawn—from his great-aunt, a music hall artiste who walked on her hands while playing the violin with her feet, to Reynolds’s own father, a complex man best described as a warm-hearted monster.
Humorous, nostalgic and beautifully written, Swan River poignantly plays out the themes of love, loss and the human need for roots and dignity that exist in every age.
