The Debatable Land

The Debatable Land was an independent territory which used to exist between Scotland and England. It is the oldest detectable territorial division in Great Britain. At the height of its notoriety, it was the bloodiest region in the country, and preoccupied the monarchs and parliaments of England, Scotland and France. After most of its population was slaughtered or deported, it became the last part of Great Britain to be conquered and brought under the control of a state. Today, it has vanished from the map and no one knows exactly where and what it was. When Graham Robb moved to a lonely house on the very edge of England, he discovered that the river which almost surrounded his new home had once marked the Debatable Land’s southern boundary. Under the powerful spell of curiosity, Robb began a journey – on foot, by bicycle and into the past – that would uncover lost towns and roads, shed new light on the Dark Age, reveal the truth about this maligned patch of land, and lead to more than one discovery of major historical significance. For the first time – and with all of his customary charm, wit and literary grace – Graham Robb, prize-winning author of The Discovery of France, has written about his native country. The Debatable Land is an epic and energetic book that takes us from 2016 back to an age when neither England nor Scotland could be imagined to reveal a crucial, missing piece in the puzzle of British history.

"A witty, engaging narrative style…[Robb's] approach is particularly engrossing." —New York Times Book Review A narrative of exploration—full of strange landscapes and even stranger inhabitants—that explains the enduring fascination of France. While Gustave Eiffel was changing the skyline of Paris, large parts of France were still terra incognita. Even in the age of railways and newspapers, France was a land of ancient tribal divisions, prehistoric communication networks, and pre-Christian beliefs. French itself was a minority language. Graham Robb describes that unknown world in arresting narrative detail. He recounts the epic journeys of mapmakers, scientists, soldiers, administrators, and intrepid tourists, of itinerant workers, pilgrims, and herdsmen with their millions of migratory domestic animals. We learn how France was explored, charted, and colonized, and how the imperial influence of Paris was gradually extended throughout a kingdom of isolated towns and villages. The Discovery of France explains how the modern nation came to be and how poorly understood that nation still is today. Above all, it shows how much of France—past and present—remains to be discovered. A New York Times Notable Book, Publishers Weekly Best Book, Slate Best Book, and Booklist Editor's Choice.

_______________________ WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FICTION PRIZE _______________________ 'McWilliam is an astonishing wordmaster who time and again dazzles the reader' - Penelope Fitzgerald, Times Literary Supplement 'A very distinguished examination into stability and instability, pattern and memory, and the drifting terror of our lives' - Guardian 'By far the most enjoyable novel I have read this year' - Spectator _______________________ Set on a sailing boat as it travels from Tahiti to New Zealand, Debatable Land is a story of memory, childhood and longing. On board Ardent Spirit are the painter Alec Dundas, escaping a destructive, failed relationship; Logan Urquhart, the restless skipper; his troubled second wife Elspeth, who fears Logan is slipping away from her; Nick and Sandro, two marine nomads; and Gabriel, an attractive young woman who captivates the men. As the ship sails from island to island, the inner dramas of these six disparate individuals spill over into their relationships with one another. But when a storm arrives, they are wrenched from the personal and forced to face the present danger. _______________________ 'A very distinguished examination into stability and instability, pattern and memory, and the drifting terror of our lives' - Guardian

Between 1735 and 1748 hundreds of young men and their families emigrated from the Scottish Highlands to the Georgia coast to settle and protect the new British colony. These men were recruited by the trustees of the colony and military governor James Oglethorpe, who wanted settlers who were accustomed to hardship, militant in nature, and willing to become frontier farmer-soldiers. In this respect, the Highlanders fit the bill perfectly through training and tradition. Recruiting and settling the Scottish Highlanders as the first line of defense on the southern frontier in Georgia was an important decision on the part of the trustees and crucial for the survival of the colony, but this portion of Georgia's history has been sadly neglected until now. By focusing on the Scots themselves, Anthony W. Parker explains what factors motivated the Highlanders to leave their native glens of Scotland for the pine barrens of Georgia and attempts to account for the reasons their cultural distinctiveness and "old world" experience aptly prepared them to play a vital role in the survival of Georgia in this early and precarious moment in its history.

Bandits, soldiers, thieves, murderers: all thrive in the lawless hills . . . The author of A Dish of Spurs delivers a brutally violent historical thriller. The Borders are at war. Henry VIII, fat and pained with a diseased leg, wants to burn them all; to burn the very water if he has to. Batty Coalhouse is still haunted by Maramaldo, the warlord responsible for cutting off his arm. He’s given an intriguing offer: find some stray nuns and bring them to safety. In turn, that will lead him to his nemesis, now rampaging with an army not far away in the Cheviot hills. What seems a routine assignment becomes a living hell, for in the Debatable Lands, nothing is as it seems . . . Praise for the novels of Rob Low “A company of warriors, desperate battles, an enthralling read.” —Bernard Cornwell, New York Times–bestselling author “Low mixes history, archeology, mythology and nonstop, often-sanguinary action into a fast-moving adventure tale.” —Publishers Weekly “An epic tale of hardship, triumph, betrayal and brotherhood.” —S. J. A. Turney, author of Marius’ Mules XV: The Ides of March

Describes a discovery the author made in the Alps, which uncovered a treasure trove of Druid celestial mathematics that mapped out the entire geography of ancient Europe, and discusses the implications of this new information.