Book Description Review ‘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.’ — Alistair Moffat, author of To the Island of Tides, A Journey to Lindisfarne‘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.’ — TLS‘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.’ — Elementum‘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’ — The Guardian‘Marvellously quotable…Fiennes’ literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book.’, Financial Times‘Part travelogue, part biography, part meditation on British identity, Footnotes is altogether delightful, and Fiennes is a wise and genial travelling companion.’ — Gregory Norminton, author of The Devil’s Highway‘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.’ — The Observer‘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.’ — Tom Holland Read more About the Author Peter Fiennes is the author of Oak and Ash and Thorn, a Best Nature Book of the Year for the Guardian, and To War with God. As the publisher for Time Out he nurtured a lifelong obsession with old guidebooks. Read more Customers Review: I loved this book! It took longer than anticipated, as I was eager to look up pictures of the places and authors. I loved the maps, quotes, and mention of myths an magic. Ending with Dickens and Poets Corner was rewarding it’s own way. Definitely a must read for anyone who loves literature, history, and England.
The author travels around Britain starting with Enid Blyton’s possible locations for her stories, in the south of England. Moving through other authors, all historical and /or literary types, from a Welsh man of the twelfth and thirteenth century to Dickens and Somerville and Ross. He does look at the lie of the land, the kind of housing, how it appears today and would have looked to the authors. Fiennes shows himself capable of strong descriptive writing, so I’m disappointed that the book begins “It is April…” The reader will learn a great deal and may be inspired to tour.Provided a reader is desperately keen to learn about the featured writers, they should enjoy the book. But I thought the author spent too long on some authors, especially Blyton, who has been been well covered by memoirs and film and doesn’t seem to have been that pleasant. Instead of dwelling on her, why not fit in a visit to Miss Beatrix Potter? Why no visit to a Scots distillery in the company of Iain Banks? No pack pony ride across Bodmin Moor with Daphne duMaurier? I am sure we could all pick favourites, but Fiennes, entitled to his own choices, does seem to have narrowed the field too much for readers to be entirely pleased.A map was promised to come, in my ARC; I also thought the book could do with some photos, but none are mentioned. Bibliography P323 – 330 and resources P330 -333.
Footnotes has been quite a journey around Britain following the travels of earlier journal writers, quite literally, sometimes on foot, other times by car or train as Fiennes’ forebears traveled by foot, horseback, carriage, and railway. To finish his journey, the author provides what seems a perfect summing up by taking the train route that Dickens’ body rode for his final trip to London for burial.But much happens prior to that final ride. Throughout these travels, Fiennes provides insights into these earlier writers thoughts of their times, the places they visited—with quotes, and also gave biographical and historical information to better place them in their surroundings. I knew of several of the subjects, such as Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Samuel Johnson, Enid Blyton, James Boswell, and Beryl Bainbridge. But several of these I knew little beyond their name and one other fact. The total unknowns for me were Ithell Colquhoun, Celia Fiennes (a very distant relative of the author), Gerald of Wales, Edith Somervilfe, Violet ‘Martin’ Ross, and J.B. Priestly.Each of these individuals has left a record or journal of travels around Britain. Celia Fiennes, 1662-1741, was known for having traveled through every English county in spite of the poor roads of the time. She didn’t travel to Scotland which was considered too uncivilized at that time. Her papers were apparently passed down in family.Bainbridge actually recreates Priestly’s 1933 travels in 1983. And Fiennes recreates them again, sometimes finding the same hotel or pub still available. But Fiennes has added many other layers, with reports such as those from as early as the 12th century, from Gerald of Wales who wrote of journeys in Wales and his hopes to become bishop. So much here! It actually is difficult to know when to stop.To return to the final trip into London, Fiennes writes of what the journey feels like.He spent his life journeying to and from the city and he made hischaracters do the same…. How big can London grow? There’s almostnothing Dickens would recognize… Where is the squalor that Dickenswrote about? It’s not here. Not the kind he knew… More tunnels. Morehouses. There is no end or beginning or beginning to London. Juststreets and bridges and…playing fields… We ride into London and itsdeath-dealing air. In a great vista of new housing, stretching down tothe Thames and away to the south, it is only the old pubs andchurches, and sometimes the warehouses that survive… At Greenwichstation there is an upsurge of energy on the platform, of the kindDickens needed and fed upon… The streets start to narrow andcrowd. At last this is something that Dickens would recognize: tightlittle lanes, pubs, dark buildings, black railway arches, a firestorm ofgraffiti…and here we are, clanking into London Bridge and on forCharing Cross… *I do recommend this book for those who enjoy travel writing with historical and literary overlay, as well as more background on some British writers. Anglophiles should enjoy this. There is a brief biographical sketch of each subject provided at the end of the book. In addition there is an extensive bibliography of travel, literary and historical books also provided which I plan to return to.*Note: as I am quoting from an advanced reader’s copy, it is possible that changes may have been made prior to publication.A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
“Footnotes” brings together two things I love in a book—nature and travel writing and literary biography and criticism. Author Peter Fiennes comes up with the quirky idea of traveling around Britain following the paths various writers took over the years spanning Gerald de Barry’s’ journey through Wales on a Crusade recruiting trip in 1188 to Beryl Bainbridge’s 1980s recreation of J.B. Priestley’s trip around the north of England in the 1930s. Fiennes visits the southern coast on the trail of Enid Blyton; hikes through Cornwall with Wilkie Collins and Ithell Colquhoun; meets up with Wilkie again when he recreates Collins’ tour through the Lake District with Charles Dickens; trails Samuel Johnson and James Boswell through the Scottish Highlands; treads the paths taken by pioneering women travelers Celia Fiennes, Edith Somerville and Violet “Martin” Ross; and takes one final journey along the path that Dickens’ funeral train traveled from his home in Kent to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey. Along the way, Fiennes is a breezily pleasant guide—he has a wry sense of humor but is also capable of probing social commentary. I thoroughly enjoyed the time in his company.Thank you to NetGalley and Oneworld Publications for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.
A fun read that I quite enjoyed, as the author follows in the paths traveled earlier by a handful of well-known literary stars, witty and informative, but by no means exhaustive. It was entertaining to travel along with him, and read of the exploits and foibles of these UK authors. |
10 reviews