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
Rory Stewart was born in Hong Kong in 1973. After a brief period in the Army, he joined the Foreign Office, serving in Indonesia and the Balkans. His account of the last section of his 6,000 mile walk across Afghanistan is described in The Places In Between; and his time as a deputy-governor of two provinces in Southern Iraq in Occupational Hazards. His books have sold over half a million copies, been translated into nine languages, and been awarded several prizes including the Ondaatje Prize of the Royal Society of Literature. He is now the Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border. He lives with his wife and young son in Cumbria and London.
"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*
"A very funny book - not jovial in the post-Wodehouse Boris mode
but something more taught and Caledonian... The politician in
Stewart never had a chance against the writer, a reliable adversary
of consensus and cant."
*Oldie*
"Beautiful, evocative, and wise."
*Star Tribune*
"The Marches is a transporting work from a powerful and original
writer."
*Harvard Press*
"This beautifully written account is a moving memoir of tales from
along the route but also reflections on life and relationships –
father and son on this their last journey together."
*Prospect*
"Rory Stewart is one of the most talented men of our era. The
Marches takes us from Rory’s constituency to his family house is an
attempt to understand the bloody history of the Scottish borders…
The quest is fascinating even if the answers are elusive."
*Spectator*
"As the book unfurls, the march along the marches turns into a
eulogy to his father, part memoir, part biography, always a love
story. It also contains one of the most unflinching, moving
descriptions of death I have read."
*The Times*
"This beautifully written book is a haunting reflection of identity
and our relationships with the people and places we love."
*Daily Mail*
"Stewart provides much food for thought about how we value our past
history"
*Scottish Field*
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