Five Days Gone

In On Chapel Sands, acclaimed author Laura Cumming delves into her mother's mysterious kidnapping from a beach in 1929, exploring the family secrets that surrounded this unsettling event. As her mother, then just three years old, returns safe yet unaware of the trauma, Cumming uncovers the layers of hidden truths, including her adoption and a name change, that shaped her family's past. Blending memoir and history, this captivating narrative interweaves photographs and historical documents, revealing the complexities of identity and memory with both depth and lyrical writing.