A Brush With the Past

This wonderful gift book covers the most exciting, innovative period in history, featuring everything from the invention of the vacuum cleaner and bra to the splitting of the atom and the first computers. Shirley Hughes' rich narrative paintings and finely observed line illustrations are interwoven with fascinating details, capturing the atmosphere of the era. Stunning double-page spreads offer poignant snapshots of life, from an elegant Edwardian picnic to afternoon tea in the trenches during the First World War. Each spread is followed by a ‘scrapbook’ of the times, featuring fascinating details about domestic life and the events and innovations that shaped the modern world. This is an intimate book of stories within stories, told from the author's own personal experience.

Shirley Hughes was born and grew up in West Kirby, near Liverpool. She studied at Liverpool Art School and at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, before embarking on a career as a freelance illustrator. At first she worked as an interpretive illustrator, but she began to write and design her own picture books when her children were very young. Her first book, Lucy and Tom's Day, was published in 1960. Now living in London's Notting Hill, Shirley Hughes has illustrated over two hundred children's books and is renowned as a champion of children's literature. Honoured with an O. B. E. in 1999 for her outstanding contribution to children's literature, Shirley Hughes is a household name. # Winner of The Other Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal and the prestigious Eleanor Farjeon award.