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by Margaret Drabble (Author)
The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws is an original and brilliant work. Margaret Drabble weaves her own story into a history of games, in particular jigsaws, which have offered her and many others relief from melancholy and depression. Alongside curious facts and discoveries about jigsaw puzzles -- did you know that the 1929 stock market crash was followed by a boom in puzzle sales? -- Drabble introduces us to her beloved Auntie Phyl, and describes childhood visits to the house in Long Bennington on the Great North Road, their first trip to London together, the books they read, the jigsaws they completed. She offers penetrating sketches of her parents, her siblings, and her children; she shares her thoughts on the importance of childhood play, on art and writing, on aging and memory. And she does so with her customary intelligence, energy, and wit. This is a memoir like no other.
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Drabble s England is as intricate as Dickens s, her characters as headstrong as Austen s, the morals at stake entirely Waughian, her powers of observation positively Woolf . Washington Post
An extraordinary blend of memoir, history, and the strange delights of puzzling, The Pattern in the Carpet weaves prolific novelist Margaret Drabble s memories into a fascinating, and singular, survey of games and jigsaws, pastimes that have offered her relief from melancholy and depression throughout the years. Alongside curious facts and discoveries about jigsaws, Drabble introduces us to her remarkable Auntie Phyl recounting their travels, the books they read, the jigsaws they completed and offers penetrating insight into the importance of childhood play, into art and writing, and into aging and memory. And she does so with her customary intelligence, energy, and wit. This is a journey like no other."Unlike anything else in the bookstore." Christian Science Monitor "Fascinating." Boston Globe Margaret Drabble is the author of The Sea Lady, The Seven Sisters, The Peppered Moth, and The Needle s Eye, among other novels. She is the editor of the fifth and sixth editions of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. For her contributions to contemporary English literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2008.
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