PETER FIENNES

Unmatched in its enthusiasm for a good time, Barcelona, with its gorgeous Modernista architecture and perfectly preserved medieval alleyways, barely has time to sweep the streets between rollicking festivals. This mini-guide, featuring color photographs and illustrations throughout, helps visitors capture the fun -- whether it''s a party on the beach, the heady club and bar scene, or more refined pursuits from gallery hopping to fine dining. In hundreds of frank reviews, local experts steer readers away from tourist traps and toward Barcelona''s best in every category.

To War With God is the moving account of Anglican chaplain Edward Montmorency Monty Guilfords service in the First World War. Written by his grandson, it draws on first-hand material, including Montys diaries, photographs and letters, tracing his journey from his first days on the Somme through the mud and terror of Cambrai to Belgium and the Army of Occupation. Along the way, Monty won the MC but lost his faith.The book also looks at the war lives of four men who had a powerful influence on Monty: his beloved brother-in-law Jack Bigger, who went missing after only days at the Front; his friend Pullthrough, a poet and author of scintillating letters; Private Joseph Bateman, executed for desertion, who spent his last night with Monty; and Dick Sheppard, the pacifist preacher who helped Monty back to health after the war.To War With God shows a mans faith in God being tested by an onslaught of horror. But it also shows the joy, the confusion and the humour of life as a clergyman in the war to end all wars.

Dazzling, passionate nature writing a celebration of Britains woods and forests and a rousing call to fight for themA Guardian Best Nature Book of the YearI loved it. Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is HistoryThe magic and mystery of the woods are embedded in culture, from ancient folklore to modern literature. They offer us refuge: a place to play, a place to think. They are the generous providers of timber and energy. They let us dream of other ways of living. Yet we now face a future where taking a walk in the woods is consigned to the tales we tell our children. Immersing himself in the beauty of woodland Britain, Peter Fiennes explores our long relationship with the woods and the sad and violent story of how so many have been lost. Just as we need them, our woods need us too. But who, if anyone, is looking out for them?***A passionate ramble through Britains complicated relationship with its woodland.Daily MailExtraordinary Fienness book winningly combines autobiography, literary history and nature writing. It feels set to become a classic of the genre.ObserverSteeped in poetry, science, folklore, history and magic, Fiennes is an eloquent, elegiac chronicler of copses, coppicing and the wildwood. Sunday Express

Through past and present, the country and the city, Peter Fiennes takes a literary journey through the British IslesAs 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 HollandThe premise of this book is simple, or that is what it seemed when I started.Peter Fiennes follows in the footsteps of twelve inspirational writers, bringing modern Britain into focus by peering through the lens of the past.The journey starts in Dorset, shaped by the childhood visions of Enid Blyton, and ends with Charles Dickens on the train that took him to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey.From the wilds of Skye and Snowdon, to a big night out in Birmingham with J. B. Priestley and Beryl Bainbridge, Footnotes is a series of evocative biographies, a lyrical foray into the past, and a quest to understand Britain through the books, journals and diaries of some of our greatest writers.And as Fiennes travels the country, and roams across the centuries, he wonders:Who are we? What do we want? They seemed like good questions to ask, in the company of some of our greatest writers, given these restless times.***A Guardian Travel Book of the YearShortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing AwardsFiennes 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. TLSHoning his easy-going and often witty style in this new book, Fiennes takes us on the journeys of famous writers Theres an infectious enthusiasm and self-deprecating authority to Fienness insights and hes 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 GuardianMarvellously quotable... Fiennes literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book. Financial Times

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022Peter Fienness road trip around Greece [is] engagingly described Mary Beard, TLSFiennes is a brilliant and generous guide through Greece ObserverA wonderful really profound meditation on what it means to hope a gorgeous excursion into Greece and across the centuries on an environmental quest BBC Radio 4 Open Book Book of the Year choice by Anita RoyWhat do the Greek myths mean to us today?Its now a golden age for these tales they crop up in novels, films and popular culture. But whats the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora? Were these stories ever meant for children? And whats to be seen now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled?Peter Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes stunning and spoiled on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian shepherds, finds the most beautiful beach in Greece, consults the Oracle, and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins of this storied land.

From the coast of Normandy to the Cote dAzur, along the banks of the Seine to the Alps the ultimate literary tour of France.Peter Fienness brisk literary travelogue is witty and packed with gossip; it moves at the speed of a TGV, with the elegance of a Citroen DS. Sebastian FaulksTravelling in a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris, Peter Fiennes explores Frances sense of its own people, place and identity through some of its greatest writers and artists. Moving between the centuries, from the Arthurian forests and Neolithic fields of Brittany to the banlieues of Paris, Fiennes follows the threads of history across France. And wonders what is next for this sublime, mysterious and sometimes fractious country.Fiennes drinks with Sartre and de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre; follows Edith Whartons Motor-Flight along the Loire Valley to the home of George Sand; and explores the beaches of the south with Colette and Katherine Mansfield. He lingers near Bordeaux with François Mauriac, strolls in the foothills of the Alps with John Berger and follows Colette to the trenches at Verdun, before finally heading to Paris, where he consigns Maupassant to an asylum and Sartre to his grave.A paean to the glories of French literature, art, landscape, food and wine, En Routeis a heartfelt exploration of where the country finds itself after so many centuries at the centre of European life.***En Route is a tour de force. Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion HouseWhat bliss to travel France in the company of such great writers including Peter Fiennes, the wittiest companion anyone could hope for. Alex von Tunzelmann, author of Fallen IdolsFascinating, funny and elegiac. Sofka Zinovieff, author of Eurydice Street