Pulse Glass

*As read on BBC Radio 4''s Book of the Week*

''A genius for a certain kind of social history that, in shining a light on one small place, illuminates a huge amount'' Sunday Telegraph

A toy train. A stack of letters. A tiny pulse glass, inherited from her great-great-grandfather, which was used to time a patient''s heartbeat before pocket watches... Gillian Tindall, one of our most admired domestic history writers, examines seemingly humble objects to trace the personal and global memories stored within them, and re-animate the ghostly heartbeats of lost lives.

''Elegiac... Tindall reflects on a lifetime''s interest in historical recovery'' The Telegraph

''Tindall is a fine historian and writes with a wryness of everyday human foibles'' The Times