Talking Pictures

A unique collection of vintage images from the author of the New York Times bestselling illustrated novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

With the candid quirkiness of Awkward Family Photos and the confessional intimacy of PostSecret, Ransom Riggs’s Talking Pictures is a haunting collection of antique found photographs with evocative inscriptions that bring these lost personal moments to life. Each image reveals a singular, frozen moment in a person’s life, be it joyful, quiet, or steeped in sorrow.

Yet the book’s unique depth comes from the writing accompanying each photo: as with the caption revealing how one seemingly random snapshot of a dancing couple captured the first dance of their forty-year marriage, each successive inscription shines like a flashbulb illuminating a photograph’s particular context and lighting up our connection to the past.

“I’m absolutely fascinated . . . there’s just enough written [on the photos] to make each image more powerful, and leave you wanting to know more.” —Boingboing