Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Nov 2020
144 pages
Genre: Travel & Adventure
Publication Information
A hauntingly beautiful diptych of works inspired by Robert Macfarlane's travels with celebrated collaborators to two eerie corners of England.
In Holloway, "a perfect miniature prose-poem" (William Dalrymple), Macfarlane, artist Stanley Donwood, and writer Dan Richards travel to Dorset, near the south coast of England, to explore a famed "hollowed way"―a path used by walkers and riders for so many centuries that it has become worn far down into the soft golden bedrock of the region.
In Ness, "a triumphant libretto of mythic modernism for our poisoned age" (Max Porter), Macfarlane and Donwood create a modern myth about Orford Ness, the ten-mile-long shingle spit that lies off the coast of East Anglia, which the British government used for decades to conduct secret weapons tests.
18 illustrations
"The writing is idiosyncratic and elegant, the story inviting enough that, for all its eldritch elements, one might wish to wake up covered in dew and join Macfarlane, Richards, and Donwood in a meal of damson gin and tea-bread—and maybe see a few ghosts along the way. A lovely evocation of some 'spectral and unreal' elements of the British landscape." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Macfarlane delights in archaic terminology, such as the alternative names for a screech owl (including deviling, shriek-devil, and howler), while Donwood provides fitting visual accompaniment with his beautiful pen and ink illustrations." - Publishers Weekly
"Complete with instructions for reading, this book showcases some of Macfarlane's most genre-defying work." - Library Journal
This information about Ghostways was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Robert Macfarlane's prize-winning and bestselling books include Mountains of the Mind, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and, with Jackie Morris, The Lost Words. He lives in Cambridge, England, where he is a Fellow of the University of Cambridge.
Stanley Donwood is a graphic designer and artist who has worked with the band Radiohead, producing artwork for their albums and promotional materials. His books include Bad Island, Catacombs of Terror!, Slowly Downward, Small Thoughts, and There Will Be No Quiet. He lives in London.
Dan Richards is author of several books including The Beechwood Airship Interviews and Climbing Days. Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth was published by Canongate in 2019. He writes for various papers and magazines including the Guardian, Economist, and Monocle, and lives in Edinburgh.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
