An intriguing read for anyone who's ever wondered about the hidden history of London. Lara Maiklem writes with the passion and expertise of a true mudlarker and she manages to weave stories around her finds with natural charm and subtle humour. This book is beautiful in so many ways, I just couldn't put it down. I particularly liked the revelation about the Dove comma, it gave me shivers!

This book is a challenge to describe – is it history or archaeology; is it a book about walking the Thames, memoir or nature writing about a river landscape? Chapter by chapter we walk the foreshore of the tidal Thames with the author as she mudlarks from Teddington Lock to the estuary. With each area she finds different fragments of London’s past which take us through its history in a fascinating way: Roman tiles and glass stoppers; printer’s type and dressmakers pins; Mesolithic flints and leather shoes; buttons and tokens; and oh, so many clay pipes. Each thing bringing a story of the London riverside to life. The author also tells us about other mudlarks and the problems faced by the ecosystem and archaeology of the foreshore in the modern world: we perhaps unsurprisingly hear about the plastics she finds amongst the more historical finds. Ultimately its just a really interesting book and in a genius move by the publishers/author, it has its own Instagram account. A fully illustrated version would be awesome but expensive; the solution is a curated Instagram account where you can scroll through the objects she discusses chapter by chapter. Inspired…who’d have thought muddy stuff could be so fascinating.

This book was a revelation. I lived by the Thames for nineteen years, but there was so much I didn’t know about, it’s history, secrets, and idiosyncrasies. The Thames is unique in its archaeological record, but millions of us travel past it, over it and under it every day with out realising what we are missing. Lara Maiklem is here to enlighten us, taking us right into the lives of historical Londoners with the objects she finds on the foreshore. I received a copy of the book from the publisher, in exchange for a review.

Takes you down the river from Teddington Lock all the way to the Estuary, weaving you into the past and bringing you back to the present. Specific locations are used as chapters helping you travel along the river. The book places you not just in the past with the objects that are found, but into the authors shoes and on into the very mud and shoreline of the Thames.

Wonderful book, very well researched and informative.