Shadowlands

£10.99

Drowned. Buried by sand. Decimated by plague. Plunged off a cliff. This is the forgotten history of Britain’s lost cities, ghost towns, and vanished villages. From a submerged Neolithic settlement to an abandoned Black Death hamlet, a Norfolk village requisitioned in wartime to a Welsh town sunk in a reservoir, these are Britain’s shadowlands. Matthew Green excavates these lost settlements, telling the extraordinary tales of their demise. We experience life before, during, and after oblivion, meeting the humans who lived and died in these unique places, and explore the lingering remains. Whether evoking the Atlantis myth or Romantic ruins, an ancient Roman metropolis or the modern coastline, ‘Shadowlands’ peers through the cracks of history at Britain’s secret landscape.

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Description

THE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

Drowned. Buried by sand. Decimated by plague. Plunged off a cliff.

This is the forgotten history of Britain’s lost cities, ghost towns and vanished villages: our shadowlands.

‘A beautiful book, truly original . . . It is a marvellous achievement.’
IAN MORTIMER, author of The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England

‘Well researched, beautifully written and packed with interesting detail.’
CLAIRE TOMALIN

‘An exquisitely written, moving and elegiac exploration.’
SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB

‘Consistently interesting . . . Green’s passion and historical vision bursts from the page, summoning up the past in surround sound and sensual prose.’
CAL FLYN, THE TIMES (author of Islands of Abandonment)

Historian Matthew Green travels across Britain to tell the forgotten history of our lost cities, ghost towns and vanished villages. Revealing the extraordinary stories of how these places met their fate – and exploring how they have left their mark on our landscape and our imagination – Shadowlands is a deeply evocative and dazzlingly original account of Britain’s past.

‘An eloquent tour of lost communities.’
PD SMITH, GUARDIAN

‘A haunting, lyrical tour around the lost places of Britain.’
CHARLOTTE HIGGINS, author of Under Another Sky

‘A miraculous work of resurrection, stinging in a perpetual present’.
IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine

‘Beautifully written.’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Startling.’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Splendid.’ THE HERALD
‘Compelling.’ HISTORY TODAY
‘Excellent.’ THE SPECTATOR
‘Fascinating.’ DAILY MAIL
‘Accomplished.’ CAUGHT BY THE RIVER
‘Outstanding.’ MIRROR

Additional information

Weight 0.304 kg
Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 × 2.2 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

x, 358

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

941 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K