Across the Land and the Water

Nov 15, 2025 8:55 PM

Author:W. G. Sebald,Iain Galbraith

A stunningly beautiful selection of poetry by W. G. Sebald.

'The greatest writer of our time' Peter Carey

Across the Land and the Water brings together poems from throughout W. G. Sebald's life as well as additional works found after his death. Arranged chronologically, from his student days in the 1960s to the longer narratives he worked on in the 1980s, these poems are suffused by the themes which dominated Sebald's books. Here you will find subtle vignettes on nature and history, death and memory, journeys and landscapes, each short piece filled with insight, sensitivity and brilliance.

'An important book . . . full of things that are beautiful and fascinating' Andrew Motion, Guardian

'When you read Sebald you are transported to another realm. Reading him is a truly sublime experience' Literary Review

'Gracefully unsettling. The poems invest every landscape with an archaeologist's sense of the pain, toil and loss secreted in each layer of soil' Independent

'One of the most important writers of our time' A. S. Byatt

'Delightful' Economist

'Show a humane and complex intelligence and deserve a place next to Sebald's prose output' New Statesman

W. G. Sebald was born in Wertach im Allgäu, Germany, in 1944 and died in December 2001. He studied German language and literature in Freiburg, Switzerland and Manchester. In 1996 he took up a position as an assistant lecturer at the University of Manchester and settled permanently in England in 1970. He was Professor of European Literature at the University of East Anglia and is the author of The Emigrants, The Rings of Saturn, Vertigo, Austerlitz, After Nature, On the Natural History of Destruction, Campo Santo, Unrecounted, A Place in the Country.

Reviews

Old-fashioned, testosterone-fuelled escapism and Tanner is a chiselled protagonist straight out of the pages of the old Commando comics

—— Mail on Sunday

Sharpe for the Blitz years...a meaty, all action yarn!

—— Sunday Telegraph

Holland is a superb historian who knows his stuff, and his descriptions of the action are terrific

—— Daily Telegraph

Has the sure touch of someone who knows their subject and enjoys it

—— Daily Mail

This is a well-researched page-turner that keeps you hungry for more. An exciting tale full of historical details and action

—— Soldier magazine

Stella Gibbons’s gift is very special

—— Daily Express

Burgess's ambitious study of 20th-century history centers on the stormy relationship between an effete, popular novelist and a Faustian priest

—— Publishers Weekly

Each image of Sharon Olds' searing Stag's Leap brands itself on retina and heart - how will I ever forget the "Tiny Siren" found by accident in the washing machine?

—— Gerda Stevenson , Morning Star

The most powerful piece of writing I've encountered in decades... The raw emotion of break up transcends every known cliché thanks to her generosity of spirit and the awe-inspiring choreography of her language.

—— Laura George , Image Magazine

I read this poetry collection with my heart in my mouth.

—— Jamie Quatro , Guardian

I treasure this collection of poems: so beautiful, so personal, so revolutionary. Every time I return to this book I find a line, a stanza that I understand better, differently, appreciate just a little more.

—— Cherie Jones , Guardian

A devastating tale of subterfuge, poverty and privilege set in the cobbled streets of Victorian London.

—— Daily Record

Magnificent, bringing the Dickensian streets to grubby, teeming life

—— Eithne Farry , Daily Mail

Cements his reputation as an accomplished and challenging novelist… Though it takes place 130 years ago, the questions that The Streets poses about how, as a society and individuals, we tackle deprivation arguably remain just as pertinent

—— Peter Stanford , Independent

Quinn blends his history, his political concerns, his ideals, his plot and his characters elegantly, with a light hand and the pace of a thriller

—— Louisa Young , Daily Telegraph

Quinn’s most mature novel yet… His picture of poverty’s shaming, dehumanizing effect is powerful, and the recurrent call for pity heartfelt. Ms Eliot and Mr Dickens would surely approve

—— Holly Kyte , Sunday Telegraph

Anthony Quinn is a terrific storyteller. He has a thrilling knack for turning familiar periods of history into something surprising and often shocking, and for making the fortunes and misfortunes of his characters matter

—— Juliet Nicholson , Evening Standard

Displays the unsentimental yet powerful flair for romance that characterized his previous novel, Half of the Human Race. Perhaps most exciting of all, there is a sense that he is still writing within himself

—— Tom Cox , Sunday Times

Quinn brings the period in question vividly to life: his research is exemplary, and his subject absorbing

—— Lucy Scholes , Observer

All the ingredients of an upmarket page-turner

—— Max Davidson , Mail on Sunday

Ambitious, gripping and disturbingly well done

—— Kate Saunders , The Times

Beyond its splendid feel for the era’s chat and patter, the novel pits philanthropy and opportunism, ideals and selfishness, bracingly at odds

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

This novel is refreshingly different and contains a cornucopia of wonderful material and evocative descriptions

—— Good Book Guide

The best book I’ve read in ages… You have to read it.

—— Hilary Rose , The Times

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