Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Book Review: Threads- The Delicate Life Of John Craske by Julia Blackburn

Post Thumbnail

BOOK Reviews 105185

Published in hardback by Jonathan Cape, priced £25 (ebook £13.99)

John Craske was a Norfolk fisherman born in 1881. In 1917 he
fell seriously ill with a mysterious condition which left him in an intermittent ‘stuporous state’ for the rest of his short
life.

In 1925, he felt a sudden urge to start painting, and from then on
he spent all his lucid moments covering every surface he could
find with pictures of boats and his beloved East Anglian coastline.

Later, when he was too ill to stand and paint, he took to embroidery and crafted many fine marine tapestries including his masterpiece, a giant thread canvas of the Evacuation of Dunkirk. His deceptively simple work, with its acute understanding of how a ship
holds itself in water, at last looks set to emerge from decades
of neglect with a new exhibition and with this unorthodox biography
that is part memoir, part travelogue and part eulogy.

Very little is known about Craske, but Blackburn makes a virtue of
this uncertainty by folding in stories of her search for facts,
of her own life, and of the eccentric Norfolk coastline. Along
the way we learn about Einstein’s wartime stay in Sheringham, hear
an alternative history of the Elephant Man, and investigate the
mysteries of the pituitary gland.

Behind it all is the enigmatic figure of Craske himelf, absorbed
in his painting, fixated on the sea, the return to stupor always
imminent. The work is what gets him through. As the book
progresses, Blackburn must contend with the death of her own much-
loved husband. Her work – the completion of this subtle and
absorbing book, full of sad treasures and odd pleasures – becomes her salvation too. A poignant meditation on creativity and grief.