The Way to the Sea | Caroline Crampton | Granta

Excerpt

The Way to the Sea

Caroline Crampton

£9.99

As one of the key entrances and exits to England, the estuary has been pivotal to London's economic fortunes and in defining its place in the world. It has also been the entry point for immigrants for generations, yet it has an ambivalent relationship with newcomers, and UKIP’s popularity in the area is on the rise. As Caroline navigates the waters of the estuary, she also seeks out its stories: empty warehouses and arsenals; shipwrecks still inhabited by the ghosts of the drowned; vast Victorian pumping stations which continue to carry away the capital's sewage; beacons used for centuries to guide boats through its dark and murky waterways; and the estuary's wildlife and shifting tidal moods. The following is an excerpt from The Way to the Sea by Caroline Crampton.

Caroline Crampton

CAROLINE CRAMPTON is an author and podcaster who writes about the world and how we live in it. She worked in journalism at publications like the New Statesman and The Times before focusing on literary non-fiction. Her first book, The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary (Granta, 2019), was described by critics "as elegant and sinuous as the river" and "wise, fascinating and informative". Her new book is A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria (Granta, 2024). Her award-winning podcast about golden age detective fiction, Shedunnit, is distributed by BBC Sounds. As a broadcaster, she has appeared on BBC Two, Sky News, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and her reviews have been published by the Guardian, London Review of Books and Spectator.

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[A] praise-hymn to the muddy, marshy far reaches of the river... captivating

Rose George, New Statesman

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