We talk about the weather a lot. It exasperates, confounds and on occasion delights us. Our national conversation is dominated by the weather, but how much do we really know about it? In Bring Me Sunshine, Charlie Connelly sets off on the trail of our island obsession.

He breezes through the lives of meteorological eccentrics, geniuses, rainmakers and cloud-busters and brings vividly to life great weather events from history. He sheds light on Britain's weirdest wind, why we have the wettest place in England to thank for the trusty pencil, the debt that umbrella owners owe to Robinson Crusoe and why people once thought firing cannons at clouds was a great idea.

Having adventured round the shipping forecast areas for his bestselling Attention All Shipping, Connelly is the perfect guide through a mélange of gales, blizzards, mists, heatwaves and the occasional shower of fish. By turns informative, entertaining and hilarious, Bring Me Sunshine answers all your weather questions as well as helping you to distinguish your graupel from your petrichor.

For fans of Charlie Connelly, things have indeed turned out nice again * Spectator *

Charlie Connelly is the author of a string of books including And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years of British and Irish History, Last Train to Hilversum: A Journey in Search of the Magic of Radio and Bring Me Sunshine: A Windswept, Rain-Soaked, Sun-Kissed, Snow-Capped Guide to Our Weather. Three of his books have been selected as BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Charlie is the literary correspondent for the New European, writes and presents the Coastal Stories podcast and performs his one-man show about the shipping forecast in venues across the country. He lives in Scotland where he misses Charlton Athletic terribly.