Middleland

Political life as seen from Britain's most rural constituency - by the co-host of The Rest Is Politics and author of the Sunday Times number one bestseller Politics on the Edge Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as a MP of Britain's most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border. As he came to know and love this part of Cumbria, he found inspiration in the beauty of its landscape, its rugged history as a frontierland, and in the spirit of its people. Drawing on pieces originally written for a local newspaper, Middleland is an unforgettable portrait of rural Britain today - a place caught in tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national politics - as well as a timeless evocation of the history, people and landscape of Cumbria. These are stories of beauty and ingenuity but also a hint of what a better politics might be. PRAISE FOR POLITICS ON THE EDGE 'An instant classic' MARINA HYDE 'At last a politician who can write' SEBASTIAN FAULKS 'Beautifully written' GUARDIAN 'Hugely entertaining' EVENING STANDARD