{"product_id":"writing-the-thames-by-christina-hardyment-9781851244508","title":"Writing the Thames","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThames aficionado Robert Gibbings once wrote that \"the quiet of an age-old river is like the slow turning of the pages of a well-loved book\". \u003cem\u003eWriting the Thames\u003c\/em\u003e tells a much-loved river's story through the remarkable prose, poetry and illustration that it has inspired.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn eight themed chapters, it features historical events such as Julius Caesar's crossing in 55 BCE and Elizabeth I's stand against the Spanish at Tilbury. It explores the topographers who mapped, drew and painted the river, and the many congenial riverside retreats for authors ranging from Francis Bacon, Thomas More, and Alexander Pope to Thomas Love Peacock, William Morris, and Henry James.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA chapter on messing about in boats tells the story of William Hogarth's impulsive five-day river trip with four inebriated friends and features satirical novels making fun of frenetic rowers (\u003cem\u003eZuleika Dobson\u003c\/em\u003e) and young London men-about-town on camping holidays (\u003cem\u003eThree Men in a Boat\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe river has also inspired some of the best children's literature (\u003cem\u003eThe Wind in the Willows\u003c\/em\u003e), and naturalists such as Richard Jeffries and C.J. Cornish (\u003cem\u003eA Naturalist on the Thames\u003c\/em\u003e) have recorded the richness of its wildlife. But there are also dark undercurrents: Charles Dickens's use of its waters as a symbol of death, Sax Rohmer's Limehouse villain Dr Fu Manchu, and the many fictional criminals who dispose of corpses in its sinister depths in detective novels ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Inspector Morse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeautifully illustrated, this book celebrates the writers who have helped to make England's greatest river an enduring legend.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47428468572396,"sku":"9781851244508","price":84.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781851244508.jpg?v=1774496571","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/writing-the-thames-by-christina-hardyment-9781851244508","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}