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At times conversational, at times meditative - it is always lyrically beautiful. enlightens the not-so-literary among us, it illuminates Essex in a new, fascinating, light. 'A work of gloriously mixed genre - part memoir, part literary criticism and part book of place - but it is unambiguously shaped by Canton's love for the often overlooked landscapes of Essex and the many great words that they have inspired.' Mark Cocker, author of Crow Country and Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet is a stalker of literary ghosts, following traces across the Essex countryside that might lead him to the writers who might have lived and worked among these landscapes.' Times Literary Supplement His pilgrimage to the past is full of surprises and always enjoyable, as he reinvigorates the familiar scene and recovers unfamiliar associations.' Marina Warner, chair of the Man Booker International prize 2015

James Canton's involvement with Essex is long and deep, and in this book of walking, remembering, and reflecting, he picks up echoes from many writers who are connected to its villages, towns and surrounding countryside. But not everyone has the gift of hearing what they are saying. 'Some landscapes are silent, others as eager to communicate as the shades in Homer's underworld. Wandering to the furthest reaches of the islands, he finds an undeciphered standing stone north of Aberdeen and follows the first footsteps on the edge of a long-lost Ice Age land in the North Sea.Īs Canton walks the modern terrain, slowly understanding the ancient signs that lie within and beneath it, he weaves a gentle tale of discovery, showing how, beyond the superficial differences of life-style and culture, the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles were much closer to the present-day one than we might imagine. He ponders the features of the natural world that occupied ancient minds: the night sky, shooting stars, the rising and setting sun. Travelling the length and breadth of Britain, James Canton pursues his obsession with the physical traces of the ancient world: stone circles, flint arrowheads, sacred stones, gold, and a lost Roman road. Explore a long-lost landscape and gradually discover the minds, beliefs and cultural practices of those souls who lived on these lands thousands of years before you.

'Intensely alive to the landscape its pasts, people and creatures' Robert Macfarlane