Threads

A cleverly crafted book that is far more than the obvious sum of its parts… [A] truly delightful book.

Honor Clerk, Spectator

[An] extraordinary book.

Chloe Colchester, Oldie

I wish I could quote something from every page as that would convince you to read this book… This is a book to remind you that wonders lie scattered like jewels in the most ordinary places.

Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times

A poignant meditation on creativity and grief.

Dan Brotzel, Press

Subtle and absorbing book.

4 stars, UK Press Syndication

It is hard to pin down what it is that makes Threads such a warmly attractive book… Julia Blackburn is an odd, sometimes even disconcerting writer, but she is an amazingly good one, too. The words she puts on paper do what written words should do: they make things real… She leaves her reader feeling grateful and happy.

Literary Review

The book sounds like a haphazard collection of anecdotes, but is in fact a richly satisfying whole tied together by the autobiographical component. This is a book to be read slowly and savoured for the quality of Blackburn’s vision and her subtle, unadorned yet poetic prose.

Vanessa Berridge, 5 stars, Sunday Express

I believe I have already found my book of the year. Blackburn’s "biography"… almost defies the category… But it is so beautifully and hypnotically done that each page leaves you spellbound. Rarely can such an unusual telling so thoroughly, and so movingly, reflect the nature of the life being told.

Lesley McDowell, Herald

[A] wonderfully eccentric biography.

Peter Carty, Independent

Oh, what a miraculous book this is: parochial, weird and inconclusive in a way that few books dare to be these days, and illustrated so generously, with something beautiful or interesting on every other page. Buy it, and let it take you out to sea, no sou’wester required.

Rachel Cooke, Observer

A beautifully illustrated, wry, emphatic and deeply moving triumph.

Dan Brotzel, Lady

A poignant meditation on creativity and grief.

Kate Whiting, UK Press Syndication

Wonderful… I lay down her book without knowing the cause of the "mental stupors" that defined Craske’s life, or understanding his relationship to his complicated family, but feeling I had inhaled the cold salt of the East Anglian coastline from which he sailed when he was well, and run my fingers across the bright wool of the embroideries he made when he was not.

Helen Brown, 5 stars, Daily Telegraph

Charming and unusual book.

Four Shires

Strange, engrossing…superbly illustrated.

Caroline Jackson, Country Life

Craske remains as private a man as before…but Blackburn’s eloquent appreciation of his work and her sympathy with his sorrows make this remarkable book the best tribute he could have received.

Claire Harman, Guardian

Her most glittering book to date.

Ian Collins, Eastern Daily Press

This is biography with a difference.

Dovegreyreader Scribbles

Compelling and beautifully written.

Country & Town House

My favourite book of the year.

Rachel Joyce, Observer

It is hard to tell whether this is a simple or a complicated book: its power lies in its being both.

Alexandra Harris, The Times Literary Supplement

I don’t know of many books that give a better sense of the frustrations and excitement of research.

Ian Patterson, London Review of Books

The energy is infectious, but the tone is melancholic.

Ian Patterson, London Review of Books

Blackburn captures the understated artist John Craske with elegance and precision.

Bridget Arsenault, Vanity Fair

A vibrant account of the life of Norfolk fisherman John Craske […] another maverick choice of subject by this always compelling writer.

Penelope Lively, Guardian

Outsider art requires outsider biography, and Blackburn, an expert in finding new forms to fit odd lives, has managed her task magnificently.

Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

Beautifully delicate.

Big Issue

Richly satisfying.

Charlotte Heathcote, Sunday Express

A gorgeous, dreamy quest, for a man named John Craske.

Rose George, New Statesman

The book has an understated charm and is a beautifully rendered portrait of an artist’s life and landscape.

Ian Critchley, Sunday Times

This tender biography is gossipy and philosophical by turns.

Daily Telegraph

Executed with undeniable skill and the sense of an intimate acquaintance with life on the open seas.

Herald Scotland

Unusually moving.

William Leith, Evening Standard