'Peter Fiennes's brisk literary travelogue is witty and packed with gossip; it moves at the speed of a TGV, with the elegance of a Citroën DS.' Sebastian Faulks

Travelling in a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris, Peter Fiennes explores France’s sense of its own people, place and identity through some of its greatest writers and artists. Moving between the centuries, from the Arthurian forests and Neolithic fields of Brittany to the banlieues of Paris, Fiennes follows the threads of history across France. And wonders what is next for this sublime, mysterious and sometimes fractious country.

Fiennes drinks with Sartre and de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre; follows Edith Wharton’s ‘Motor-Flight’ along the Loire Valley to the home of George Sand; and explores the beaches of the south with Colette and Katherine Mansfield. He lingers near Bordeaux with François Mauriac, strolls in the foothills of the Alps with John Berger and follows Colette to the trenches at Verdun, before finally heading to Paris, where he consigns Maupassant to an asylum and Sartre to his grave.

A paean to the glories of French literature, art, landscape, food and wine, En Route is a heartfelt exploration of where the country finds itself after so many centuries at the centre of European life.

***

'En Route is a tour de force.' Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion House

'What bliss to travel France in the company of such great writers – including Peter Fiennes, the wittiest companion anyone could hope for.' Alex von Tunzelmann, author of Fallen Idols

'Fascinating, funny and elegiac.' Sofka Zinovieff, author of Eurydice Street

LONGLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022

‘Peter Fiennes’s road trip around Greece [is] engagingly described’ Mary Beard,  TLS

‘Fiennes is a brilliant and generous guide through Greece’  Observer

‘A wonderful? really profound meditation on what it means to hope? a gorgeous excursion into Greece and across the centuries on an environmental quest’  BBC Radio 4 Open Book Book of the Year choice by Anita Roy

What do the Greek myths mean to us today?

It’s now a golden age for these tales – they crop up in novels, films and popular culture. But what’s the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora? Were these stories ever meant for children? And what’s to be seen now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled?

Peter Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes – stunning and spoiled – on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian shepherds, finds the ‘most beautiful beach in Greece’, consults the Oracle, and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins of this storied land.

LONGLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022

‘Peter Fiennes’s road trip around Greece [is] engagingly described’ Mary Beard,  TLS

‘Fiennes is a brilliant and generous guide through Greece’  Observer

‘A wonderful? really profound meditation on what it means to hope? a gorgeous excursion into Greece and across the centuries on an environmental quest’  BBC Radio 4 Open Book Book of the Year choice by Anita Roy

What do the Greek myths mean to us today?

It’s now a golden age for these tales – they crop up in novels, films and popular culture. But what’s the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora? Were these stories ever meant for children? And what’s to be seen now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled?

Peter Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes – stunning and spoiled – on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian shepherds, finds the ‘most beautiful beach in Greece’, consults the Oracle, and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins of this storied land.

‘As enjoyable a guide to the relationship of writers to the landscape of Britain as one could hope to read: beautifully written, moving in its reflections, and often very funny.’ Tom Holland

‘The premise of this book is simple, or that is what it seemed when I started.’

Peter Fiennes follows in the footsteps of twelve inspirational writers, bringing modern Britain into focus by peering through the lens of the past.

The journey starts in Dorset, shaped by the childhood visions of Enid Blyton, and ends with Charles Dickens on the train that took him to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey.

From the wilds of Skye and Snowdon, to a big night out in Birmingham with J. B. Priestley and Beryl Bainbridge, Footnotes is a series of evocative biographies, a lyrical foray into the past, and a quest to understand Britain through the books, journals and diaries of some of our greatest writers.

And as Fiennes travels the country, and roams across the centuries, he wonders:

‘Who are we? What do we want? They seemed like good questions to ask, in the company of some of our greatest writers, given these restless times.’

***

A  Guardian  Travel Book of the Year

Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

‘Fiennes is a perceptive reader and a good-humoured guide and his book offers a superb commentary on the connections between lesser-known places and writers?   Footnotes is a passionate, partisan call for readers to take action before the British countryside may be encountered only between the pages of a book.’ TLS

‘Honing his easy-going and often witty style in this new book, Fiennes takes us on the journeys of famous writers? There’s an infectious enthusiasm and self-deprecating authority to Fiennes’s insights and he’s a most agreeable companion? There will be many nature titles vying for a place on Christmas lists this year? This one should be towards the top’  Guardian

‘Marvellously quotable… Fiennes’ literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book.’ Financial Times

‘As enjoyable a guide to the relationship of writers to the landscape of Britain as one could hope to read: beautifully written, moving in its reflections, and often very funny.’ Tom Holland

‘The premise of this book is simple, or that is what it seemed when I started.’

Peter Fiennes follows in the footsteps of twelve inspirational writers, bringing modern Britain into focus by peering through the lens of the past.

The journey starts in Dorset, shaped by the childhood visions of Enid Blyton, and ends with Charles Dickens on the train that took him to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey.

From the wilds of Skye and Snowdon, to a big night out in Birmingham with J. B. Priestley and Beryl Bainbridge, Footnotes is a series of evocative biographies, a lyrical foray into the past, and a quest to understand Britain through the books, journals and diaries of some of our greatest writers.

And as Fiennes travels the country, and roams across the centuries, he wonders:

‘Who are we? What do we want? They seemed like good questions to ask, in the company of some of our greatest writers, given these restless times.’

***

A  Guardian  Travel Book of the Year

Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

‘Fiennes is a perceptive reader and a good-humoured guide and his book offers a superb commentary on the connections between lesser-known places and writers?   Footnotes is a passionate, partisan call for readers to take action before the British countryside may be encountered only between the pages of a book.’ TLS

‘Honing his easy-going and often witty style in this new book, Fiennes takes us on the journeys of famous writers? There’s an infectious enthusiasm and self-deprecating authority to Fiennes’s insights and he’s a most agreeable companion? There will be many nature titles vying for a place on Christmas lists this year? This one should be towards the top’  Guardian

‘Marvellously quotable… Fiennes’ literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book.’ Financial Times