The book

4 July, 1877 [Dorset] ‘Country life at Sturminster. Vegetables pass from growing to boiling, fruit from the bushes to pudding, without a moment's halt, and the gooseberries that were ripening on the twigs at noon are in a tart an hour later.’ Thomas Hardy The unique beauty of the British countryside has been celebrated down the ages through music, poetry, and art. It has also been celebrated in countless private diaries. This delightful treasury gathers together the very finest – from Rev Gilbert White’s journal of life at his famous home in Selborne, to Beatrix Potter’s holiday diaries from Perthshire. Elsewhere, the thoughts of Dorothy Wordsworth and John Fowles rub shoulders with the words of Alan Clark and Queen Victoria. Together these private records paint a rich and surprising picture of a landscape and a way of life we think we know so well.

The Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE ASSASSIN'S CLOAK: Triumphantly eclectic and entertaining ... What this delightful book demonstrates is that there is nothing more gripping than everyday life, and nothing more extraordinary than the commonplace.
Observer

PRAISE FOR THE ASSASSIN' S CLOAK: A sumptuous feast. This inspired anthology of diverse diary entries, selected chiefly for their honesty, is relentlessly thought-provoking.
Independent (Books of the year

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