"A monumental sifting and arranging of local particulars, stitched against the savage farce of a great European novelist s elective exile... Patrick Wright has picked over the landfill of a very specific Estuary culture to devastating effect." - Iain Sinclair
"A double 'biography' of the great but always tempestuous German writer Uwe Johnson and his ultimate home, the gritty and disreputable Isle of Sheppey. 'Biography' is in quotes because Wright is a saboteur of genres and his books encompass multiple worlds. I stand in awe of what he has accomplished here." - Mike Davis
"A masterful modernist history, and Patrick Wright s most important book, bringing Europe to England by showing it has always been here, at a moment when too many want to believe something else." - David Edgerton
"An extraordinary, haunting book... a phenomenal achievement." - Gillian Darley, author of Excellent Essex
"An astonishing chronicle of the great German author Uwe Johnson, who moved to Sheerness, Kent, in the 70s. - Helen MacDonald
To repeat: this tidal book, reaching into everything and then withdrawing to show what is left behind, is a triumph." - Neal Ascherson, author of Black Sea
"A model portrait of person and place, a kind of cultural and literary geography that never fails to fascinate." - Kirkus Reviews
Patrick Wight is Emeritus Professor of Literature, History and Politics at Kings College, London. His books include The Village that Died for England, A Journey Through Ruins, and Tank: The Progress of a Monstrous War Machine.