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The Silver Tea Service : A memoir - Judy Campbell

The Silver Tea Service

A memoir

By: Judy Campbell

9 September 2019

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A rich memoir about exploring a family mystery, and how a search for truth can yield unexpected outcomes.

Eight years after the death of her mother, Judy reviews her family relics, including the antique tea service that belonged to her mother's grandfather. Should she just sell the damn thing and buy new lounge furniture? It's tempting.

But she stops to read the inscription etched into the solid silver tray. It honours this man around whom hangs a century-old mystery. Prickling with a strange resentment towards her widely loved mother, she embarks on a journey to uncover the truth behind the story of grandeur and ruin her mother had promised, but never wrote.

The author's relentless research in dusty archives and neglected cemeteries across South Africa unravels an unexpected family history. The process draws her to revisit the darker corridors of her youth, and her sense of identity. She confronts the losses and complexities of her own life.

The Silver Tea Service is a thought-provoking memoir of loss, redemption and belonging, of political injustices and the inescapable nuances of history in South Africa.
Industry Reviews

The Silver Tea Service is a beautifully evocative and richly conceived homage to the stories and silences of history as Judy Campbell searches for the elusive truths of her past. A profound restoration of one family's lost narrative, this book will make you want to know more about the lives and personalities of your own ancestors. -- Joanne Fedler, Internationally bestselling author

The Silver Tea Service is a fascinating historical memoir, stunningly written with grace and honesty. An extraordinary account of a family's history unfolds with intriguing insights and brave storytelling. I was captured from page one and couldn't put this book down! -- Marcia Abboud, Author, Every Shitty Thing

A touching story of innocents and ancestry that is simply a must-read if you are interested in human nature. Judy Campbell's search begins with a silver tea service and ends with a more complete understanding of South Africa's history and her own family's story of wealth, loss, ruin. -- Xanti Bootcov, Author, But They Look So Happy

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