The Award Tally
FictionNonfiction

Wishlist

Saved in this browser only - it isn't synced to your other devices.

Back to the full ranking
Thunderclap cover

Thunderclap

Laura Cumming

0

awards won

4

score

#2682 of 3,809 books · #963 in Biography & Memoir

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction (2024).

Thunderclap won the 2024 Writers' Prize for Nonfiction, was named a Top 100 Must-Read Book of the Year by Time and a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, and was shortlisted for the Inaugural Women's Prize for Nonfiction. In 1654, the Thunderclap—an enormous explosion at a gunpowder store—devasted the city of Delft, killing hundreds of people, including the extraordinary painter Carel Fabritius, and injuring thousands more. Framing the story around the life of Fabritius, Cumming illuminates this extraordinary moment in art history while also writing about her own father, a painter. Like Dutch art, the story gradually links country, city, town, street, house, interior—all the way to the bird on its perch, the blue and white tile, the smallest seed in a loaf of bread. The impact of a painting and how it can enter our thoughts, influence our view and understanding of the world is the heart of this book.

Buy this book at AmazonAd
Publisher
Penguin Random House
ISBN-13
9781473594647
Topics
Dutch Golden Age paintingCarel Fabritius and art historyMemoir of the author's painter father

Awards

Other awarded books from Laura Cumming

If you liked Thunderclap, you could also like these