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John Craske was a fisherman, from a family of fishermen, who became too ill to go to sea. He was born in Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast in 1881 and would eventually die in the Norwich hospital in 1943 after a life which could have been defined by ill health. There were various explanations for what ailed him, what caused him to sink into a stupourstupor, sometimes for years at a time and he was on occasions described as 'an imbecile'. But John had a natural artistic talent, albeit that his work had to be done on the available surfaces in his home. Chair seats, window sills, the backs of doors all carried his wonderful pictures of the sea. Then he moved on to embroidery, producing wonderful pictures of the Norfolk coast - and, most famously, of the evacuation at Dunkirk.
He was looked after by his wife and neither had commercial sense: they looked to survive rather than thrive and were embarrassed by the money that they received for Craske's work, but his artistry gained a wider public. He was much admired by John Betjeman and Peter Pears and his fame spread beyond the British Isles. The memory of him has faded though, and Julia Blackburn set out to write his biography.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Before reading ''Threads'' I'd never heard of John Craske, but I was tempted by the memory of [[Thin Paths: Journeys in and Around an Italian Mountain Village by Julia Blackburn|Thin Paths: Journeys in and Around an Italian Mountain Village]], the story of how the relationship between her and Herman, the man who would become her husband developed. You will get more from ''Threads'' if you've read that book first. This book featured in our [[August 2017 Newsletter]].
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