‘Engagingly written, and brilliantly researched, a treasure trove packed with rich nuggets of information. I loved and devoured it.’ – Peter James

‘A perfectly timed narrative history … No one who crosses the Channel can fail to learn from, and enjoy, this original and absorbing book.’ – Patrick Marnham

It was half a million years ago that Britain first parted from Europe. As ice melted, water smashed through the chalky land bridge that separated Britain from the continent of Europe, forming what we now know as the English Channel, and what the French call La Manche. The second parting, far from being a force of nature, was the choice of Britain’s islanders disillusioned with continental rule.

In The Busy Narrow Sea, Robin Laurance tells the story of the people whose lives have become entwined over the centuries with this iconic seaway, presenting a broad sweep of carefully researched historical fact lightened with a host of colourful anecdotes. This diverse tale covers artists captivated by its light; writers inspired by its power; tunnellers relishing its challenges; entrepreneurs turning fishing villages into smart resorts; smugglers ruling and adventurers conquering the waves; and much more besides, from Napoleon through the Second World War and into the modern day.

‘Engagingly written, and brilliantly researched, a treasure trove packed with rich nuggets of information. I loved and devoured it.’

‘Every page told me something I did not know. It is the way history should be told - vivid, immediate and endlessly surprising.’

‘Just when the Channel is in the news most days of the week, Robin Laurance has produced a perfectly timed narrative history, the story of the narrow strip of water that made our country into an island when an Ice Age lake burst its banks. It’s all here – from Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach and Dickens loathing for Calais, to the story of the Tunnel and the wartime atrocities in Alderney’s slave labour camps. He ranges from the joys of the Isle of Wight Pop Festival to the swimmers who set out on ‘the Long Crawl’, and describes the problems caused by small boats crossing illegally without lights for car ferry skippers today. No one who crosses the Channel can fail to learn from, and enjoy, this original and absorbing book.’

‘An entertaining and informative voyage of discovery, from well-known events to previously unheard of nuggets - a genuine delight.’

As a freelance writer, ROBIN LAURANCE honed his research and writing skills contributing features to The Times, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and a variety of weekly and monthly magazines. These features have taken him from the Oval Office in Washington to the car factories of Japan; the sugar estates of Brazil; the Presidential Palace in Turkey, and the coconut plantations of southern India. He spends his leisure hours on boats, and guiding visitors round the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.