Publisher's Synopsis
'Terrific... Britain's urban landscape is just as freighted with myth and mystery as its castles and ancient monuments and [Rees] proves it by unearthing a treasure trove of riveting stories.' - Sunday Times, Best Books of the Year, 2020
_____
There
is a Britain that exists outside of the official histories and guidebooks -
places that lie on the margins, left behind. A Britain in the cracks of the
urban facade where unexpected life can flourish. Welcome to UNOFFICIAL BRITAIN.
This is a land of industrial estates, factories and electricity pylons, of
motorways and ring roads, of hospitals and housing estates, of roundabouts and
flyovers.
Places where modern life speeds past but where
people and stories nevertheless collect. Places where human dramas play out:
stories of love, violence, fear, boredom and artistic expression. Places
of ghost sightings, first kisses, experiments with drugs, refuges for the
homeless, hangouts for the outcasts.
Struck by the power of these stories and
experiences, Gareth E. Rees set out to explore these spaces and the essential
part they have played in the history and geography of our isles. Though
mundane and neglected, they can be as powerfully influential in our lives, and
imaginations, as any picture postcard tourist destination.
'Unexpected and fascinating' - Melissa Harrison, author of The
Stubborn Light of Things
