"The Granite Kingdom" by Tim Hannigan

Have you ever read a travel book that really, really led you to want to visit the place described? I can think of a handful, but none as good as The Granite Kingdom by Tim Hannigan. 

I’d been following a writer named Luke Sherlock on Instagram. He’s written a book called Forgotten Churches: Exploring England’s Hidden Churches. Sherlock spends weekends visiting old churches all over England, posting reports on Instagram and his web site, and he’s now expanded the reports into a book. 

 

He and his wife also operate Sherlock & Pages, an independent bookstore in the town of Frome in Somerset that focuses on landscape, nature, history, and heritage. This summer, Luke started the Pilgrim’s Book Club, focusing on a book a month that ends with a video discussion, usually with the author. The book for July was The Granite Kingdom: A Cornish Journey. You can order the current and next two books from Amazon, but I bit the international mail cost bullet and ordered the books for July, August, and September directly from Sherlock & Pages (the cost was about that for another book). The books arrived in June. 

 

What was impressive was how carefully they’d been wrapped to protect them on their international journey. These are people who love books, I thought as I opened the package. And I don’t mind the extra cost of mailing, because I don’t mind helping an independent bookstore.

 

Tim Hanigan

The Granite Kingdom, as its subtitle implies, is about Cornwall. Hannigan grew up there, knows the land, and wrote about walking it in this extraordinarily fine account. Like all good travel books, it delves deep into the region and its history. His purpose isn’t to give a mile-by-mile journal, or to strip away the stories and myths that have grown up about it. Instead, he’s telling a story.

 

And to tell that story, he has drawn upon fact, legend, language, culture, geography, accounts by famous writers and travelers, and his own personal story. Hanigan knows this country, and he approaches it with love, affection, and a sympathetic yet discerning eye. And he tells a wonderful story.

 

Born in Cornwall in Penzance (Pirates! say Gilbert & Sullivan), he worked as a chef and English teacher, beginning his writing career as a travel journalist, based in Indonesia. His previous books include Murder in the Hindu Kush, Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, A Brief History of Indonesia, and The Travel Writing Tribe. He has a Ph.D. degree from the University of Leicester. He lives in Ireland, where he teaches writing and literature at the Atlantic Technological University in Sligo.

 

The Granite Kingdom was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Award in 2024. That’s not a surprise. If you can understand a place you’ve never visited simply by reading a book, then the book has performed a superb feat of travel writing. And this one certainly has.

Related:

 

Exploring The Granite Kingdom – Luke Sherlock (video).

 

The Granite Kingdom with Tim Hannigan – Luke Sherlock (video).

 

Some Monday Readings

 

250 Years Ago: The Second Continental Congress Adjourns – Kevin Pawlak at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Why We Must Fight the Demise of the Essay – Nadya Williams at Providence Magazine.

 

Viral Language – Helena Aeberli at Los Angeles Review of Books.

 

The New York Times Can’t Stop Sucking – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

Beyond Apollo: The Later Ray Bradbury – Bradley Birzer.