Rory Stewart explores his love for the UK in this account of history, memory and landscape as he traverses the the borderlands between England and Scotland. This beautifully written book is a haunting reflection of identity and our relationships with the people and places we love Daily Mail His father Brian taught Rory Stewart how to walk, and walked with him on journeys from Iran to Malaysia. Now they have chosen to do their final walk together along the Marches - the frontier that divides their two countries, Scotland and England. On their six-hundred-mile, thirty-day journey - with Rory on foot, and his father ambushing him by car the pair relive Scottish dances, reflect on Burmese honey-bears, and on the loss of human presence in the British landscape. Travelling across mountain ridges and through housing estates they uncover a forgotten country crushed between England and Scotland: the Middleland. They discover unsettling modern lives, lodged in an ancient place, as their odyssey develops into a history of the British nationhood, a chronicle of contemporary Britain and an exuberant encounter between a father and a son. And as the journey deepens, and the end approaches, Brian and Rory fight to match, step by step, modern voices, nationalisms and contemporary settlements to the natural beauty of the Marches, and a fierce absorption in tradition in their own unconventional lives. Suggests an open-mindedness in Stewart, a tolerance and flexibility that could make him an exceptional politician while it also continues to define him as a writer New York Review of Books Travel writing at its best Guardian
THE NO. 1 BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF POLITICS ON THE EDGE
Combining memoir, history and travel writing, a moving exploration of landscape, identity and the love between a father and son.
Rory Stewart and his father set out on their final walk together along the border between England and Scotland.
On their 600-mile thirty-day journey, the pair relive Scottish dances, talk about Burmese honey bears and the loss of human presence in the countryside around them. Their odyssey develops into story of nationhood and landscape, and an exuberant encounter between father and son. Written with pathos and wit, Stewart's memoir is a moving, honest and loving portrait of his father and homeland.
'Travel writing at its best' Observer
'Beautifully written... a haunting reflection of identity and our relationships with the people and places we love' Daily Mail
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