The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People

A Sunday Times Book of the Week and Top 10 Bestseller A Waterstones Travel Book of the Year A Spectator Book of the Year What kind of country is England today? What does it mean to be English? Are we hungry for change or seeking old certainties? Join Stuart Maconie on an enlightening, entertaining journey through England, from Bristol's Banksy to Durham's beaches, from Cotswolds corduroy to Stoke's oatcakes. As his guide, Maconie walks in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley's classic travelogue, English Journey, to explore our national identity and how it has evolved over the last century. On his way, Stuart takes inspiration from the people he meets at bus stops and train stations, cafes and corner shops. Travelling the length of the land, Maconie explores the differences between city and town, north and south, and examines our past and present with affection and insight. Whether he's passing the boutique hotels of Manchester, the moors of Ilkley or the grand houses of Tynemouth, looking out over misty fens or urban skylines, he shines a light on the people who make these places and asks what the future holds for them. Along the way, he uncovers local heroes and secret histories over early breakfasts and last orders. Through his journey, he lets us see our homes and habits, hopes and eccentricities with fresh eyes. The Full English challenges us to embrace the messy, shifting and diverse nature of England, and to ask ourselves what kind of country we want to be. Three years before George Orwell made his expedition to the far and frozen North JB Priestley who had grown up there after all cast his net wider, writing a book subtitled a Rambling but Truthful Account of What One Man Saw and Heard and Felt and Thought During a Journey Through England During the Autumn of the Year 1933. It was a huge and immediate success. A timeless classic, it is scathing about vested interests, intensely patriotic and politically progressive. English Journey is warm, funny, tender. But tough. There is steel here too. J B Priestleys elegant and readable prose, written for a mass audience, is just as forensic a reading of a changing England and just as passionate a call to arms as anything in Orwells bleak masterpiece. Moreover, it both captured and catalysed the public mood. But its more than this. Its a love letter, albeit an exasperated one, to a country that he loves and yet finds unfathomable. Stuart Maconie has often expressed the same passions and puzzlement. Now, ninety years on, he intends to take an English Journey of his own, with Priestleys thirties itinerary as guide. How does the country look now, as it reopens and re-emerges from this ice age of doubt and insecurity. Re-energised? Hungry for change? Or moribund, dazed and desperate for old certainties. Revisiting English Journey , interrogating its insights and perspectives, walking in Priestleys footsteps and riding the roads and rails he did, Maconies latest is popular, timely and entertaining, taking the form of a sustained lovers quarrel with England, as did the original. From the author of 250,000-copy bestseller Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North A New Statesman nonfiction pick for 2023 A Bookseller One to Watch What kind of country is England today? What does it mean to be English? Are we hungry for change or seeking old certainties? Join Stuart Maconie on an enlightening, entertaining journey through England, from Bristol's Banksy to Durham's beaches, from Cotswolds corduroy to Stoke's oatcakes. As his guide, Maconie walks in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley's classic travelogue, English Journey, to explore our national identity and how it has evolved over the last century. On his way, Stuart takes inspiration from the people he meets at bus stops and train stations, cafes and corner shops. Travelling the length of the land, Maconie explores the differences between city and town, north and south, and examines our past and present with affection and insight. Whether he's passing the boutique hotels of Manchester, the moors of Ilkley or... From the author of 250,000-copy bestseller Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North A Sunday Times Book of the Week and Top 10 Bestseller A New Statesman nonfiction pick for 2023 A Bookseller One to Watch