Five days gone: the mystery of my mother's disappearance as a child
(Book)
Description
"In the fall of 1929, when Laura Cumming's mother was three years old, she was kidnapped from a beach on the Lincolnshire coast. There were no screams when she was taken, suggesting the culprit was someone familiar to her, and when she turned up again in a nearby village several days later, she was found in perfect health and happiness. The incident quickly faded from her memory, and her parents did not tell her it took place. To the contrary, they deliberately hid it from her, and she did not learn of it for half a century. It was not the only secret her parents kept from her. For many years, while raising her in draconian isolation and protectiveness, they also obscured that she'd been adopted; that her name changed from Grace to Betty; and that both events occurred in 1929, the same year as the kidnapping on the beach. In Five Days Gone, Laura Cumming brilliantly unspools the tale of her mother's life and unravels the multiple mysteries at its core. Using photographs from the time, historical documents and works of art, she investigates this case of stolen identity with the toolset of a detective and the unique intimacy of a daughter trying to understand her family's past and its legacies. Compulsive, vivid and profoundly touching, Five Days Gone is a masterful blend of memoir and history, an extraordinary personal narrative unlike any other"--
Copies
Subjects
More Details
Notes
Reviews from GoodReads
Citations
Cumming, L. (2019). Five days gone: the mystery of my mother's disappearance as a child. First Scribner hardcover edition. Scribner.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Cumming, Laura. 2019. Five Days Gone: The Mystery of My Mother's Disappearance As a Child. Scribner.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Cumming, Laura, Five Days Gone: The Mystery of My Mother's Disappearance As a Child. Scribner, 2019.
MLA Citation (style guide)Cumming, Laura. Five Days Gone: The Mystery of My Mother's Disappearance As a Child. First Scribner hardcover edition. Scribner, 2019.
Staff View
Record Information
| Last Sierra Extract Time | Sep 16, 2025 10:29:48 PM |
|---|---|
| Last File Modification Time | Sep 16, 2025 10:30:07 PM |
| Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Sep 16, 2025 10:29:53 PM |
MARC Record
| LEADER | 03067cam a2200373 i 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 003 | OCoLC | ||
| 005 | 20190821115520.0 | ||
| 008 | 190629s2019 nyua e 000 0ceng d | ||
| 020 | |a 9781501198717 |q (hardcover) | ||
| 020 | |a 1501198718 |q (hardcover) | ||
| 035 | |a (OCoLC)1109834082 | ||
| 040 | |a SOM |b eng |e rda |c SOM |d OCLCQ |d GO6 |d LEO | ||
| 049 | |a LEOA | ||
| 082 | 0 | 4 | |a 920 |
| 100 | 1 | |a Cumming, Laura, |e author. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nb90518864 | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Five days gone : |b the mystery of my mother's disappearance as a child / |c Laura Cumming. |
| 250 | |a First Scribner hardcover edition. | ||
| 264 | 1 | |a New York : |b Scribner, |c 2019. | |
| 300 | |a 301 pages : |b illustrations ; |c 22 cm | ||
| 336 | |a text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a unmediated |b n |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a volume |b nc |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 520 | |a "In the fall of 1929, when Laura Cumming's mother was three years old, she was kidnapped from a beach on the Lincolnshire coast. There were no screams when she was taken, suggesting the culprit was someone familiar to her, and when she turned up again in a nearby village several days later, she was found in perfect health and happiness. The incident quickly faded from her memory, and her parents did not tell her it took place. To the contrary, they deliberately hid it from her, and she did not learn of it for half a century. It was not the only secret her parents kept from her. For many years, while raising her in draconian isolation and protectiveness, they also obscured that she'd been adopted; that her name changed from Grace to Betty; and that both events occurred in 1929, the same year as the kidnapping on the beach. In Five Days Gone, Laura Cumming brilliantly unspools the tale of her mother's life and unravels the multiple mysteries at its core. Using photographs from the time, historical documents and works of art, she investigates this case of stolen identity with the toolset of a detective and the unique intimacy of a daughter trying to understand her family's past and its legacies. Compulsive, vivid and profoundly touching, Five Days Gone is a masterful blend of memoir and history, an extraordinary personal narrative unlike any other"-- |c Provided by publisher. | ||
| 600 | 1 | 0 | |a Elston, Elizabeth, |d 1926- |
| 600 | 1 | 0 | |a Cumming, Laura |x Family relationships. |
| 650 | 0 | |a Adopted children. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85023496 | |
| 655 | 7 | |a Biographies. |2 lcgft |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/genreForms/gf2014026049 | |
| 907 | |a .b26250123 | ||
| 945 | |y .i63214830 |i 21802570750 |l wdab |s - |h |u 10 |x 0 |w 0 |v 2 |t 2 |z 08-20-19 |r - |o - |a B CUMMING (LAURA) | ||
| 945 | |y .i63305215 |i 20802656635 |l lban |s - |h |u 10 |x 0 |w 0 |v 2 |t 2 |z 09-11-19 |r - |o - |a 306.874 Cum | ||
| 945 | |y .i63315889 |i 31200200133188 |l hmab |s - |h |u 13 |x 0 |w 0 |v 0 |t 2 |z 09-13-19 |r - |o - |a B/CUMMING | ||
| 945 | |y .i63456187 |i 20702940022 |l bran |s - |h |u 13 |x 3 |w 0 |v 11 |t 2 |z 10-16-19 |r - |o - |a 364.15 CUM | ||
| 945 | |y .i6368231x |i 31216004046178 |l nhab |s - |h |u 3 |x 0 |w 0 |v 0 |t 2 |z 12-09-19 |r - |o - |a Biography Cumming, Betty | ||
| 998 | |e - |d a |f eng |a br |a hm |a lb |a nh |a wd | ||