The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain

Award-winning writer Paul Theroux embarks on a journey that, though closer to home than most of his expeditions, uncovers some surprising truths about Britain and the British people in the '80s in The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain.

Paul Theroux's round-Britain travelogue is funny, perceptive and 'best avoided by patriots with high blood pressure...'

After eleven years living as an American in London, Paul Theroux set out to travel clockwise around the coast to discover what Britain and the British are really like. It was 1982, the summer of the Falklands War—an ideal time, he found, to surprise the British into talking about themselves. The result is a superbly vivid and engaging read.

Praise for The Kingdom by the Sea:

• "A sharp and funny descriptive writer. One of his golden talents, perhaps because he is American and therefore classless in British eyes, is the ability to chat up and get on with all sorts and conditions of British. . . Theroux is a good companion" — The Times
• "Filled with history, insights, landscape, epiphanies, meditations, celebrations and laments" — The New York Times
• "Few of us have seen the entirety of the coast and I for one am grateful to Mr Theroux for making my journey unnecessary. He describes it all brilliantly and honestly" — Anthony Burgess, Observer

American travel writer Paul Theroux is renowned for his rich descriptions of people and places, often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony. His other non-fiction titles include:

• Riding the Iron Rooster
• The Happy Isles of Oceania
• Sunrise with Seamonsters
• The Tao of Travel
• Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
• The Old Patagonian Express
• The Great Railway Bazaar
• Dark Star Safari
• Fresh-air Fiend
• Sir Vidia's Shadow
• The Pillars of Hercules

He is also the author of novels and collections of short stories, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner The Mosquito Coast. All are available from Penguin.