SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE AND THE HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE

A journey told through stories and songs into Doggerland, the ancient region that once joined the east coast of England to Holland

Time Song tells of the creation, the existence and the loss of a country now called Doggerland, a huge and fertile area that once connected the entire east coast of England with mainland Europe, until it was finally submerged by rising sea levels around 5000 BC.

Julia Blackburn mixes fragments from her own life with a series of eighteen 'songs' and all sorts of stories about the places and the people she meets in her quest to get closer to an understanding of this vanished land. She sees the footprints of early humans fossilised in the soft mud of an estuary alongside the scattered pockmarks made by rain falling eight thousand years ago. She visits a cave where the remnants of a Neanderthal meal have turned to stone. In Denmark she sits beside Tollund Man who, despite having lain in a peat bog since the start of the Bronze Age, seems to be about to wake from a dream...

'This book is a wonder' Adam Nicolson, Spectator

'A clairvoyant and poetic conversation with the past' Antony Gormley

About the Author

Julia Blackburn's books include The Emperor's Last Island, Daisy Bates in the Desert, Old Man Goya, With Billie, The Three of Us, Thin Paths and Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske, which won the East Anglian Book of the Year 2015 and the New Angle Book Prize 2017.

Enrique Brinkmann was born in Malaga in 1938. He is well-known for his paintings and his graphic work. He has three times been awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Grabado.

Reviews
A poetic and fascinating exploration of life on Doggerland... This is one of the only books I've ever read that has made me feel better about climate change. * Guardian *Book of the Week* *
A magical, mesmerising book - a book which makes you feel giddy at the thought of the deep gulf of history hidden just beneath your feet. * Scotsman *
Breathtaking... [a] splendidly rich book... I admire the intelligence, the appetite for discovery and the shining imagination that have gone into [Time Song]. * Literary Review *
Julia Blackburn's marvellous Time Song: Searching for Doggerland...is startling, funny and often very moving. -- Simon Winder * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *
[Time Song] is time travel... wonderful. * Observer *


Awards
Short-listed for Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2019 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781784704902
Author Julia Blackburn
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 652g
Dimensions(mm) 210mm * 164mm * 23mm