Museum expert Rachel Morris had been ignoring the boxes under her bed for decades. When she finally opened them, an entire bohemian family history was laid bare. The experience was revelatory - searching for her absent father in the archives of the Tate; understanding the loss and longings of the grandmother who raised her - and transported her back to the museums that had enriched her lonely childhood.

By teasing out the stories of those early museum makers, and the unsung daughters and wives behind them, and seeing the same passions and mistakes reflected in her own family, Morris digs deep into the human instinct for collection and curation.

'Rachel Morris is one of the smartest storytellers I have ever met... a wonderful and beguiling book' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd's Life

'Immensely thought-provoking' Herald

'Skilfully interwoven, history, reflection and detective work bouncing off one another to build a spirited narrative... engrossing' Spectator

'Rachel Morris is one of the smartest storytellers I have ever met... a wonderful and beguiling book' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd's Life

'Morris' writing is immediately welcoming, and the content is warmly familiar for any reader working within the museums and heritage profession (although this is not a prerequisite to enjoying the book)... It is a timely book at a moment when the heritage sector is asking challenging questions' Ferren Gipson, Arts Quarterly

'In this elegant and eloquent book Morris explores the contents of the boxes under her bed to calmly piece together a family pattern of loss and extreme eccentricity. As a museum curator, she meditates on the nature of museums: the Museum of Me we all carry in our heads, and the public institutions in which variations of the world's history are told' Julia Blackburn, author of Time Song: In Search of Doggerland

'A fascinating meditation on the life of objects and their power to trigger our memories. It awakened my curiosity to the realms of history, pain, and longing we access through the simple act of collecting' Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee

A director of the museum-making company Metaphor, Rachel Morris has been part of the creation, design and delivery of some of the most exciting displays, renovations and museums of the last few decades, from the new Cast Courts at the V&A to the Terracotta Warriors at the British Museum and Grand Egyptian museum in Cairo. Rachel is also the author of two previous novels.