About the Book
In each walk, a scene. In each journey, a story. To tread any well-travelled path is to step upon layers of history and to add to them. What was seen by yesterday’s rambler? Who were they? What was their Britain?
Peter Fiennes follows in the footsteps of writers, spiritualists, economists, farmers, churchmen and artists, from the eleventh century to the twentieth. Traversing past and present, he searches for signs of what his absent guides once saw and, through their words, opens up a new way of seeing what is there today. Footnotes is full of wonders and wanders, old stories and fresh connections, worn roads and wild places. It is a mesmerising quest to picture these isles anew.
Fiennes’s fellow travellers include Enid Blyton (Isle of Purbeck, Swanage, Weymouth); Wilkie Collins (Cornwall, Plymouth, Land’s End, Looe, St Ives); Ithell Colquhoun (Lamorna Cove); Celia Fiennes (Glastonbury, Wells, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Hereford); Gerald of Wales (Hereford, Hay on Wye, Newport, Cardiff, St Davids, Snowdonia); Somerville & Ross (north Wales); JB Priestley & Beryl Bainbridge (Stoke, Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool, Bradford, Newcastle, York, Hull); Charles Dickens (Lake District, Doncaster, London); Johnson & Boswell (Edinburgh, Skye, Aberdeen).
About the Author :
Peter Fiennes is the author of Oak and Ash and Thorn and To War with God. As a publisher for Time Out, he published their city guides, as well as books about Britain’s countryside and seaside. He lives in Wandsworth, south-west London.
Review :
‘As enjoyable a guide to the relationship of writers to the landscape of Britain as one could hope to read: beautifully written, moving in its reflections, and often very funny.’
‘This is not only a splendid, vigorous and amusing book, it is also important. On his travels with Enid Blyton, JB Priestley, Dickens and others, Peter Fiennes brilliantly assembles a vivid picture of that most elusive issue of the age, English identity.’
‘Fiennes is a perceptive reader and a good-humoured guide and his book offers a superb commentary on the connections between lesser-known places and writers… Footnotes is a passionate, partisan call for readers to take action before the British countryside may be encountered only between the pages of a book.’
‘Always an amiable and engaging companion, Fiennes is gently teasing of macho travel writers… Fiennes is always self-deprecating and an acute observer… His occasional whimsical flourishes lighten the pudding, but his points hit home… Fiennes does something original in this highly enjoyable book where writers become more than ghostly companions and imaginary narrators – they remind us of what was once ‘normal’ and allow us to see how far we have fallen as well as travelled.’
‘A funny and reassuring snapshot of our national identity.’
‘Honing his easy-going and often witty style in this new book, Fiennes takes us on the journeys of famous writers… There’s an infectious enthusiasm and self-deprecating authority to Fiennes’s insights and he’s a most agreeable companion… There will be many nature titles vying for a place on Christmas lists this year… This one should be towards the top’
‘Marvellously quotable...Fiennes’ literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book.’
‘Part travelogue, part biography, part meditation on British identity, Footnotes is altogether delightful, and Fiennes is a wise and genial travelling companion.’
‘I didn’t really know that I’d been waiting for a more literary and stylish Bill Bryson to update Notes from a Small Island, but that’s just what Footnotes is, and I loved it.’
'I think this book deserves the praise and is indeed "beautifully written, moving in its reflections and often very funny." [...] I particularly enjoyed the comic elements [...] But behind the self-effacing wit, there is a serious attempt to "bring modern Britain into focus" (as he says in the Preface) which he achieves with charm and humanity.'
