Reviews
Westcountryman
With Magic in my Eyes
Review quotes
A wonderful book.
A book of exploration.
Here we can walk the beautiful and diverse landscapes of the West Country in the writers’ footsteps, and thus discover new books and new places.
We don’t just get to know this inspiring landscape anew;
we get to feel it as the writers all did.
Michael Morpurgo
A rare book and a glorious one.
Clive Aslet
Country Life
A fount of knowledge. I felt as if I was learning something on every page.
Thomas Hardy Society Journal
A splendid and proper book, elegantly designed, fluently written and brimming with fascinating content.
Dartmoor Onine
Readers say
It's a joy.
At one obvious level, this is an excellent, personal reference book. But it is much more than that. I am astonished how comprehensive it is, finding new things to say about the wide-ranging list of characters. Anthony Gibson writes very well, often poetically and is never stuffy or needlessly academic. The pairing of location and literary matters appeals much to me.
The Coloured Counties
Review quotes
A charming book, thoroughly researched. For anyone with a love of literature and the countryside, The Coloured Counties makes joyous reading.
John Light
Wilts and Glos Standard
The enriching thing about The Coloured Counties is that it does precisely what it says on the label: Anthony’s book fills in the literary hues, shadows and highlights of a countryside that inspired a great many minds and countless wonderful words.
Martin Hesp
Western Morning News
In this handsomely produced study Anthony Gibson aims to explore the ways in which 'the landscapes of the heart of England have inspired great literature' and offers a guide as to 'how we can bring the links between writers and landscapes alive for ourselves on the ground'. In this Gibson succeeds with insight and panache, producing a series of scrupulously researched accounts of literary landscape, ranging from Jefferies' Wiltshire up to the 'blue remembered hills of Shropshire'. Gibson is indeed notably alert to the resonance of place, and he writes with clarity and elegance on a whole range of writers as diverse as the Dymock poets, Ivor Gurney and Mary Webb, his commentary illuminated by his depth of knowledge and insights into the art and practice of writing. ... The Coloured Counties is very far from a mere coffee-table production. To the contrary, its cunningly plotted mixture of narrative, landscape evocation and literary analysis, together with the fine accompanying illustrations, makes this a most satisfying volume which can be warmly recommended as a guide to the cultural implications and resonance of the English literary landscape.
Professor Roger Ebbatson
Newsletter of the Richard Jefferies Society
Readers say
As a meld of biography, philosophical tract, fireside travel guide and walking companion, the book is a gem of insight and discernment.
Peter Benson
Not only is the book extremely well written, and puts John Moore very firmly into the reader's imagination, the dust wrapper, boards and quality of paper fall into the Rolls Royce of books. Truly superb.
A John Moore Society member in Yorkshire
Rosey: My Life in Somerset Cricket
Review quotes
Brian Rose's depth of knowledge for the game and its players shines through in the book, which includes fascinating insight into the "Big Three", who get their own chapter, and a host of other Somerset characters. Rose writes how he "knew class when he saw it" after watching Marcus Trescothick; recalls how his heart broke over Mark Lathwell's failure to capitalise on early promise; and how he would have made sure Jos Buttler was not lost to another county. There are dressing-room anecdotes, stories of late nights and eye-watering and very personal injuries. But it is in his assessment of Somerset's cricketers, the characters and the administrators that Rose is at his best. This book is so steeped in Somerset it should be enjoyed with a pint of cider. Fans will love it.
Bill Martin
Western Morning News
A book that promises much from the second you pick it up and, I am delighted to say, it doesn't disappoint. It is a must read for all cricket fans.
Steve Jennings
Incider website
Rosey is relevant still, a shop front for the county game as something valid, and proud, that the men of Lord’s seem at best to take for granted. Anyone with an interest in the game in living memory can enjoy and learn from this book. A word of praise for Anthony Gibson: his art and achievement is to make it look as if he did nothing at all.
Mark Rowe
The Cricket Statistician
Readers say
A book that promises much from the second you pick it up and, I am delighted to say, it doesn't disappoint. It is a must read for all cricket fans.
A reader in Berkshire