Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire

Hackney, that Rose-Red Empire is Iain Sinclairs foray into one of Londons most fascinating boroughs

As detailed and as complex as a historical map, taking the reader hither and thither with no care as to which might be the most direct routeObserver

Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire is Iain Sinclairs personal record of his north-east London home in which he has lived for forty years. It is a documentary fiction, seeking to capture the spirit of place, before Hackney succumbs to mendacious green papers, eco boasts, sponsored public art and the Olympic Park gnawing at its edges. It is a message in a bottle, chucked into the flood of the future.

An explosion of literary fireworksPeter Ackroyd, The Times

Gloriously sprawling, wonderfully congested, one of the finest books about London in recent decadesDaily Telegraph

Sinclair adopts the roles of pedestrian, pilgrim and poet, magnificently illuminating the boroughs historical and spiritual lifeThe Times

Remarkable, compelling, bristles with unexpected, frequently lurid life. On Sinclairs territory theres nobody to touch him . . . a gonzo Samuel PepysSunday Times

Iain Sinclair is the author of Downriver (winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Encore Award); Landors Tower; White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings; Lights Out for the Territory; Lud Heat; Rodinskys Room (with Rachel Lichtenstein); Radon Daughters;London Orbital, Dining on Stones, Hackney, that Rose-Red Empire and Ghost Milk. He is also the editor of London: City of Disappearances.