Thames: Sacred River

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  • Author: Peter Ackroyd
  • Publisher: Vintage
  • Catalogue: 168356
  • Size: 16x24cm
Thames: Sacred River, by the bestselling author of London: The Biography, is about the river from source to sea. It covers history from prehistoric times to present; the flora and fauna of the river; paintings and photographs inspired by the Thames; its geology, smells and colour; its literature, laws and landscapes; its magic and myths; its architecture, trade and weather.

This book meanders gloriously, rather as the river does itself: here are Toad of Toad Hall and Julius Caesar, Henry VIII and Shelley, Turner and Three Men in a Boat. The reader learns about the fishes that swam in the river and the boats that plied on its surface; about floods and tides; hauntings and suicides; sewers, miasmas and malaria; locks, weirs and embankments; bridges, docks and places. All the towns and villages along the river’s 215-mile length are described.

Peter Ackroyd has a genius for digging out the most surprising and entertaining details, and for writing about them in the most magisterial prose.