Thames: Sacred River

£25.00

SIGNED COPIES!

“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.