The Road to Little Dribbling

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What to expect

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation’s heart and became the best-selling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain. Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey around Britain to see what has changed.

Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn’t altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain’s occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas.

Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

Download includes accompanying PDF map of the Bryson Line

Music written and performed by Richard Digance, inspired by The Road to Little Dribbling

Critics Review

Warm, funny, thoughtful, sometimes grumpy. An absolute joy.
+ in Country Life:
I snorted with laughter…The Road to Little Dribbling is consistently and unendingly fabulous…I intend on buying a copy for everyone I know.

Clare Balding

Fans should expect to chuckle, snort, snigger, grunt, laugh out loud and shake with recognition…a clotted cream and homemade jam scone of a treat.

Sunday Times

Is it the funniest travel book I’ve read all year? Of course it is.

Daily Telegraph

There were moments when I snorted out loud with laughter while reading this book in public…He can be as gloriously silly as ever.

The Times

Bryson has no equal. He combines the charm and humour of Michael Palin with the cantankerousness of Victor Meldrew and the result is a benign intolerance that makes for a gloriously funny read.

Daily Express

Everybody loves Bill Bryson, don’t they? He’s clever, witty, entertaining, a great companion…his research is on show here, producing insight, wisdom and startling nuggets of information…Bill Bryson and his new book are the dog’s bollocks.

Independent on Sunday

At its best as the history of a love affair, the very special relationship between Bryson and Britain. We remain lucky to have him.

Financial Times

The truly great thing about Bryson is that he really cares and is insanely curious…Reading his work is like going on holiday with the members of Monty Python.

Mashable

At last, Bill Bryson has got back to what he does best – penning travel books that educate, inform and will have you laughing out loud…I was chuckling away by page four and soaking up his historic facts to impress my mates with. Sure to be a bestseller.

Sun

Stuffed with eye-opening facts and statistics….. Bryson’s charm and wit continue to float off the page….Recognising oneself is part of the pleasure of reading Bryson’s mostly affable rants about Britain and Britishness.

Daily Mail

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
Loved this! It's an incredibly funny, nostalgic and interesting view of the UK.
CKoekkoek 18/05/2023

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