![]() ![]() ![]() Though the child did not have any intention of doing so (he “ considered an artist’s life to be a dull one and looked for something more adventurous”), his early drawings, some of which are included in the book, were certainly impressive and I can understand why his father showed them off with such pride to his artist friends. His parents moved in artistic circles (Frank Dicksee was a family friend and Shepard’s maternal grandfather was a member of the Royal Academy) and from an early age they encouraged Shepard to become an artist. The youngest of three children born to a London architect and his wife, Shepard grew up in a home where the arts were encouraged. ![]() But while she lived, what a happy family they were! It is also, as Shepard’s advises in his introduction, a memoir of the last entirely happy year the family had, which adds a special poignancy to the entire book shortly afterwards, Shepard’s adored mother became ill and then died, leaving her devoted family devastated. Shepard is an utterly charming memoir about Shepard’s life as a seven-year old boy growing up in a close-knit middle class family in Victorian London. Published in 1957 but focused on events that took place in 1887, Drawn From Memory by E.H. ![]()
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