Older women never lose their younger selves. They are just hidden. To Juliet, growing up, it was impossible to imagine that each of the aged women who cast a mysterious shadow over her childhood had a history. It seemed as if they were always old. But her granny Gogi, the Great Aunts, Floss, Dorki and Madame Holmes were far more than fierce visitors, unsuspecting victims or domestic drudges. Now older herself, it is time for art historian Juliet Heslewood to tell her own story. It's a journey into lost memories and the fragile records of what might have been. 'Grey and lacy, stern yet kindly, they were removed from our childhood to an era inhabited in cloudy time ...' About the author:Juliet Heslewood has had a long career as an art historian, devising and leading tours in six areas of France where she lived. She has written extensively about artists and art history, and lectures for the Arts Society and locally where she lives in Oxfordshire. *Praise for Juliet Heslewood*'Here is a heartfelt and often quirky memoir. These curious and poignant vignettes of elderly women, at home and abroad, question the abiding cost and compensations of family, work and intimacy. And with passion and humour Juliet gradually untangles the influence of these encounters on her own emergence and fulfilment' - TOBY JONES, actor 'Who stops to think that the old were once young? Juliet Heslewood reveals the stories of eight old women - and her own, which is no less surprising, brave and funny' - CAROLE ANGIER, biographer 'This book is a delight' 'Sensitive, beautifully researched' 'Atmospheric' 'Unusual, thoughtful' 'Hard to put down'

Older women never lose their younger selves. They are just hidden. To Juliet, growing up, it was impossible to imagine that each of the aged women who cast a mysterious shadow over her childhood had a history. It seemed as if they were always old. But her granny Gogi, the Great Aunts, Floss, Dorki and Madame Holmes were far more than fierce visitors, unsuspecting victims or domestic drudges. Now older herself, it is time for art historian Juliet Heslewood to tell her own story. It's a journey into lost memories and the fragile records of what might have been. 'Grey and lacy, stern yet kindly, they were removed from our childhood to an era inhabited in cloudy time ...' About the author:Juliet Heslewood has had a long career as an art historian, devising and leading tours in six areas of France where she lived. She has written extensively about artists and art history, and lectures for the Arts Society and locally where she lives in Oxfordshire. *Praise for Juliet Heslewood*'Here is a heartfelt and often quirky memoir. These curious and poignant vignettes of elderly women, at home and abroad, question the abiding cost and compensations of family, work and intimacy. And with passion and humour Juliet gradually untangles the influence of these encounters on her own emergence and fulfilment' - TOBY JONES, actor 'Who stops to think that the old were once young? Juliet Heslewood reveals the stories of eight old women - and her own, which is no less surprising, brave and funny' - CAROLE ANGIER, biographer 'This book is a delight' 'Sensitive, beautifully researched' 'Atmospheric' 'Unusual, thoughtful' 'Hard to put down'