Coast Our Island Story

Along our shores, towering cliffs from the age of the dinosaurs rise beside wide estuaries teeming with wildlife, while Victorian ports share waterfronts with imposing fortifications. And the people who have lived, worked and played on this spectacular coast - from Stone Age fishermen to seafarers, chart-makers and surfers - have an incredible tale to tell. Coast: Our Island Story is an enthralling account, sparkling with geography, history, adventure and eccentric characters, told with Nick Crane's trademark charisma and wit.

Just over a century ago, Our Island Story entranced a nation's children by telling their history in stories. Short, simply written chapters, packed with living characters and thrilling action - and illustrated with vivid colour pictures - illuminate all the main events from Britain's earliest days to the end of Victoria's reign. And its glorious fusion of myth and legend with sober fact - Canute and King Arthur with Cromwell and the Indian Mutiny - is as seductive now as it ever was. 'I was given H.E. Marshall's Our Island Story at Christmas 1936 and I've still got that copy. It was a direct inspiration for me in my career as a historian' Antonia Fraser 'It is written in a way that really captured my imagination and which nurtured my interest in the history of our great nation' David Cameron 'One of the most influential works of history of the 20th century' Times Educational Supplement

A collection of stories chronicling the characters and dramas that capture life in small coastal communities. In this story collection, Pat Carney follows the rhythms of day-to-day life in coastal BC. Featuring a revolving cast of characters—the newly retired couple, the church warden, the musician, the small-town girl with big city dreams—Carney’s keen observations of the personalities and dramas of coastal life are instantly recognizable to readers who are familiar with life in a small community. With her narrative of dock fights, pet shows, family feuds, logging camps and the ever-present tension between islanders and property-owning “off-islanders,” Carney’s witty and perceptive voice describes how the islanders weather the storms of coastal life. Carney writes evocatively of the magical landscape of the British Columbia coast, where she has lived and worked for five decades. At the same time, she addresses the less-idyllic moments that can also characterize coastal life: power outages, winter storms, isolation. On Island brings the West Coast landscape—human and natural—to life, and gives islanders and mainland dwellers alike a taste of what it means to be “on island.”

Told through a series of walks beside the sea, this is a story of the most beautiful 742 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: their rocks, plants and animals, their views, walks and history, and the people who have made their lives within sight of the waves. As he travels along coastal paths, visits beaches and explores coves, Barkham reflects on the long campaign to protect our shoreline from tidal erosion and human damage and weaves together fascinating tales about every aspect of the coast - from ancient conquests and smuggler's routes, to exotic migratory birds and bucket-and-spade holidays - to tell a more profound story about our island nation and the way we are shaped by our shores.

In Coast, natural history journalist Christopher Somerville takes you on a grand tour of the outer limits of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Beautiful photography, clear maps, and evocative essays all illuminate the majesty and variety to be found where Britain meets the sea. This is, after all, the longest coastline in Europe. From the dramatic cliffs of Eastbourne's Beachy Head to the spare beauty of the Norfolk salt marshes; from the storm-wracked Cape Wrath at the edge of the Scottish Highlands to the peaceful wooded creeks of Cornwall's Helford river--whatever kind of coastal area you're drawn to, you'll find it here. For those who want to see it firsthand, Coast also features a detailed gazetteer--a region-by-region reference of places, people, activities, natural history, and historic events.

Intrepid presenter Nicholas Crane investigates eight epic journeys, following in the footsteps of our greatest indigenous explorers. Nick presents eight of the most interesting traveller-chroniclers to have explored and reported on the state of the nation. From Gerald of Wales who embarked on a seven week journey around the wild perimeter of Wales in March 1188, to HV Morton, the journalist and travel writer who crossed the length and breadth of England by car in the 1920s. Others include Celia Fiennes who started her many journeys around Britain on horseback in the late 1600s at the age of 20, Tudor antiquarian John Leland, Daniel Defoe, William Cobbett, Thomas Pennant, and William Gilpin, who travelled through the north of England by boat in 1770.

Howard White offers humour-laced sketches of small-town life on the BC Coast.