Description

A Waterstones Travel Book of the Year 2023

A funny warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging following the scenic route along the EnglandWales border Britains deepest faultline

There is a line on the map to one side Wales small rugged and stubborn on the other England crucible of the most expansionist culture the world has ever seen It is a line that has been dug debated defined and defended for twenty centuries
All the Wide Border is a personal journey through the places amongst the people and across the divides of the border between England and Wales Taking in some of our loveliest landscapes and our darkest secrets this is a region of immeasurable wonder and interest It is here that the deepest roots and thorniest paradoxes of Britishness lie The border between the countries even as a concept is ragged jagged and manylayered
Garlanded author Mike Parker has adored and explored these places his entire life Born in England but settled in Wales he finds himself typical of many in being pulled in both directions His journey is divided into three legs corresponding with the watersheds of the three great border rivers the Dee in the north the Severn in the centre the Wye in the south Neither quite England nor Wales the furzy borderland he uncovers the March is another country
Picking apart the many notions and clichs of Englishness Welshness and indeed Britishness Mike Parker plays with the very idea of borders our fascination with them our need for them and our response to their power In his hands the EnglandWales frontier is revealed to be a border within us all and it is fraying fast