Promotional Information

MP and travel writer Rory Stewart traverses the borderlands between England and Scotland, musing on history, memory and landscape

'This is travel writing at its best.'
Katherine Norbury, Observer
An Observer Book of the Year

About the Author

Rory Stewart lived in the Eden Valley of Cumbria for ten years, serving as the Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border - the largest and most sparsely populated constituency in England - much of which he explored on foot. Half Scottish and half English, he spent his childhood between Britain, Malaysia and Hong Kong. After a very brief period in the British Army, he served as a British diplomat in Indonesia, the Balkans and Iraq, establishing and running a charity in Afghanistan, and holding a chair at Harvard University. He has also been a UK environment minister, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Minister of State for Justice and Secretary of State for International Development. His 21-month 6,000-mile walk across Asia, including Afghanistan, is recorded in his New York Times bestseller The Places in Between. His other books include Occupational Hazards, The Marches, and Politics on the Edge, which was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. Stewart is now the Brady-Johnson Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs, and the co-host, with Alastair Campbell, of the UK's leading podcast The Rest Is Politics.

Reviews

I thought at first Rory's book was about the French political party, but blow me it is all about our native heath, plus his dad, and is one of the most original books we have had in 33 years of the prize
*Hunter Davies, Lakeland Book of the Year, 2017*

Engaging, intelligent, and ultimately moving.
*Scotsman*

Suggests an open-mindedness in Stewart, a tolerance and flexibility that could make him an exceptional politician while it also continues to define him as a writer.
*New York Review of Books*

[A] bewitching book… The entrancing bond between Stewart and his father brings the book alive.
*Sunday Times*

Engaging, intelligent and ultimately moving…in some ways, Rory Stewart resembles a Robert MacFarlane who has chosen geopolitics over metaphysics.
*Scotland on Sunday*

This is travel writing at its best.
*Observer*

Stewart is the nearest person I have identified in real life to Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, the all-seeing, all-knowing man-child of Empire… The heart of the book is about love… He is observant, gently mocking and he writes beautifully.
*The Times*

He is a gift to literature.
*Evening Standard*

[Stewart] has a roving, enquiring mind, which makes him on the page…most agreeable company… This roving, discursive book is a delight to read.
*Literary Review*

The Marches is a memoir full of depth and beguiling humour… His prose is captivating and I hugely admired his dedication in getting to know closely the landscape and people he serves in Parliament.
*Prospect*

[A] substantial and very impressive book... [a] profoundly moving portrait of Stewart’s father.
*Spectator*

As a collective portrait of both father and homeland, The Marches is a deeply moving, honest and loving portrait, even if Britain and Brian are seldom what they seem.
*Country Life.*

The book is held together by Mr Stewart's writing, with his short chapters moving skilfully from history to personal encounter.
*Wall Street Journal*

Stewart’s descriptions are moving… This writer refreshes the parts that other writers cannot reach: he has the stamina and interest to investigate the hidden ‘glamour’ behind regions and peoples with unpromising veneers.
*Lady*

The delight of it lies in his encounters with the specific rather than in ruminations about the general. He has an alert eye for the awkward detail – the things that don’t quite fit with the tone of a scene. It makes him an enjoyable and persuasive writer.
*Guardian*

[An] elegantly written account.
*The Times*

Like father, like son, for both come across as hugely talented, hugely driven misfits.
*National*

The Marches marks him [Stewart] out not only as a writer but as a political force rooted in geographies so different to London as to shed new light on politics itself… [A] serious politician, social critic, and practical ethnographer at work. As such The Marches is a book for walkers, for those who love the Borders, and for fathers seeking inspiration in their family responsibilities… If this is the polymath as politician, then we need more of them.
*Conservative Home*

This is so much more than the story of their journey – it’s a superbly written, endlessly fascinating book encompassing history, geology, landscape, family memories, wars experienced and lives well lived.
*Choice Magazine*

One of the most unexpected and enjoyable reads of 2016… The book fizzes erudition and is delightfully leavened by the companionship of his aged and doughty father.
*Guardian, Readers' Book of the Year*