The Britannias - And the Islands of Women

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR

''A dazzlingly brilliant book'' Hannah Dawson

''Fascinating, often exhilarating...Albinia is an intrepid, imaginative guide'' TLS

The Britannias tells the story of Britain''s islands and how they are woven into its collective cultural psyche.

From Neolithic Orkney to modern-day Thanet, Alice Albinia explores the furthest reaches of Britain''s island topography, once known (wrote Pliny) by the collective term, Britanniae. Sailing over borders, between languages and genres, trespassing through the past to understand the present, this book knocks the centre out to foreground neglected epics and subversive voices.

The ancient mythology of islands ruled by women winds through the literature of the British Isles - from Roman colonial-era reports, to early Irish poetry, Renaissance drama to Restoration utopias - transcending and subverting the most