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What to expect

Join Zakia Sewell on a journey across Britain, uncovering hidden stories, ancient rituals, and a side of the nation you've never heard before

Zakia Sewell is on a quest for another Britain. Traversing the length and breadth of our island from Somerset to Scotland, she's seeking out a different story - one that lies beyond toxic and empty national symbols.

In Finding Albion, Zakia uncovers an alternative Britain that is vividly alive today. It is found in otherworldly folk songs, ancient myths, Celtic seasonal rites and mystic stone circles that punctuate our landscape. Her journey begins as the sun rises on the spring equinox over Glastonbury Tor, where she meets neopagans reclaiming traditions from our pre-Christian past. At summer's peak at Notting Hill Carnival she hears cultural echoes that passed along the slave trade routes from the Caribbean. On All Hallow's Eve she encounters the ghosts of Empire that are still haunting the nation, and in the depths of a Cornish winter she asks if today's new folk revival could even unite our increasingly divided country?

Critics Review

I've been waiting for a book like this.
Florence Welch
Finding Albion offers up much needed alternative national identities and stories for us to keep close and cherish. Its a timely book that helps us consider who we are and more importantly where we are going.
Jeremy Deller
A timely antidote to toxic national myth-making, Finding Albion complicates and challenges our understanding of the British countryside. Journeying into distant centuries which predate the grand narratives of empire, royalty and nation, Zakia Sewell explores the forgotten worldviews of our distant ancestors, generations who lived close to the land and its seasonal cycles. In doing so, her book transcends small-minded nationalisms to show that otherworldly communion with nature is a global phenomenon, a necessary and timeless desire which can re-enchant and connect us all.
Professor Corinne Fowler, author of OUR ISLAND STORIES: TEN WALKS THROUGH RURAL BRITAIN AND ITS HIDDEN HISTORY OF EMPIRE.
I love this brilliant quest for the true spirit of Albion, with all its mischief and magic, eccentricity and radicalism. The book's promise that we can all connect with the traditions, rituals, songs and ancient places of our troubled but wondrous land - and through honesty, openness and revelry forge a brighter future together - is truly inspiring and exhilarating.
Fiona Robertson, author of STONE LANDS: A JOURNEY OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT THROUGH BRITAIN’S ANCIENT PLACES
Finding Albion takes us on a personal, melancholic, but ultimately hopeful quest for an alternative - and more inclusive - spirit of the nation. The reader journeys alongside Sewell, through Albion's diverse landscapes, cultures, and stories, reflecting on how they can unite rather than divide us.
Dr Ceri Houlbrook, author of FOLKLORE: A JOURNEY THROUGH PAST AND PRESENT
Hopeful and inspiring, Finding Albion is a vital quest for more authentic stories of Britain. At a time when issues of national identity are increasingly contested, Sewell's analysis is more urgently needed than ever, reminding us that our history and heritage are far more diverse and more inclusive than traditional accounts suggest, and offering the possibility of forging new visions that can belong to us all.
Caroline Lucas
Essential reading for everyone with an interest in the rituals, folklore and sacred places that define the continued interest in the folk culture of these isles. Finding Albion is the book we all need in 2026, a vital quest that begins with a cuckoo's song and traverses solstices, carnivals, enclosures, the legacy of Empire, ancient megaliths, the power of community bonding rituals, and invites us to imagine (and re-imagine), a more radical, inclusive and magical way forward, while acknowledging our complex history and the ghosts of our past.
Weird Walk
A fascinating and uplifting journey that feels urgently relevant. Finding Albion makes old traditions feel fresh and vital, tracing unexpected connections between past and present. This is a beautiful and important book.
James Fox, author of CRAFTLAND: A JOURNEY THROUGH BRITAIN’S LOST ARTS AND VANISHING TRADES
An absorbing, poignant book. Not just another tour of calendar-customs, but an original, personal reflection on contemporary Britain and the value of its folklore in a progressive, multicultural society.
Professor Owen Davies, author of POPULAR MAGIC and FOLKLORE
A profoundly inspiring, ever-moving, and at times deeply uncomfortable meditation upon the lost soul of Britain. Written with magnanimous empathy, authority and extraordinary frankness, it gleams like stars splashed across a summer-solstice sky with poetic beauty. Eschewing a poisonous obsession with monarchy, empire and soul-destroying capitalism, this personal odyssey wrests - so lyrically - the true essence of Britain from the gammon to the gay, presenting a more harmonious vision of the future in the face of forever catastrophe. Wry and impassioned in equal measure, but never sanctimonious, I loved every word and lament how petty and narrow-minded it reveals most discussions of 'national identity' to be. Haunting and magnificent.
Matthew Green, author of SHADOWLANDS
A deft untaming of British culture, showing its radical roots and diverse present. It left me enlightened and profoundly hopeful.
Katherine May, author of WINTERING
Finding Albion charts Sewell's journeys across the folk festivals of Britain, trying to uncover a narrative that transcends divisive stories and brings us all together.
Service95 - 50 Culture Reccs That Will Make Your Year In 2026

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