Brightening from the East book cover

Thames Estuary Essays

Travel Writing

Brightening from the East

by Ken Worpole

In Brightening from the East, Ken Worpole explores a unique 'region of the mind'—the Thames Estuary and the marshland landscapes of the East Anglian shoreline.


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About the book

In this wide-ranging collection of essays, personal and historical, Worpole brings us the stories of radical communities, of arcadian dreams among the shabby plotlands of eastern England, of new ways of living. He ranges further afield too, writing on Italian cemeteries, Dutch landscape architects and the English twentieth century folk revival. Here Worpole convincingly argues that the Essex landscape has always been a refuge for new ideas, and a place where practical idealism could flourish, a place the world might learn from. Brightening from the East also contains Worpole's influential essay, 'The New English Landscape'.

Book details

Published by Little Toller Books

Paperback ISBN: 9781915068460 19 Mar 2025 150 x 225 x 21 (mm) 306g