On The Roof
A Thatcher's Journey
Published on 29. August 2024
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-78816-743-7 (ISBN)
Description
A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
'An excellent, beautifully written book' Patrick Galbraith, Sunday Times
'A rich and hugely enjoyable celebration of the local, the vernacular and traditional ... a beautifully written craftsman's memoir' Daily Mail
'What a marvellous book. Full of lore, information, interest, beautifully captured people. Poetry' Craig Raine
Thatched roofs are like living organisms: each one a web of repair, replacement and alteration, shaped, dressed and re-moulded by every pair of hands that works on it.
Thatching is one of the world's oldest crafts - an ancient trade that roots us in nature, as Tom Allan discovered when he quit an office job to become an apprentice in Devon. Now a master of the trade, in On the Roof he goes in search of its history and future, meeting fellow thatchers, from the son of a lobster fisherman who thatches with a dune grass in the Hebrides, to a Syrian refugee who found peace among the seagrass roofs of Denmark, to one of the first women to master Japan's 5,000-year-old thatching tradition.
Eye-opening, beautifully told and revealing a tradition hand-shaped over centuries, On the Roof is a story of how we live with the land and how we have chosen to treat it.
'An excellent, beautifully written book' Patrick Galbraith, Sunday Times
'A rich and hugely enjoyable celebration of the local, the vernacular and traditional ... a beautifully written craftsman's memoir' Daily Mail
'What a marvellous book. Full of lore, information, interest, beautifully captured people. Poetry' Craig Raine
Thatched roofs are like living organisms: each one a web of repair, replacement and alteration, shaped, dressed and re-moulded by every pair of hands that works on it.
Thatching is one of the world's oldest crafts - an ancient trade that roots us in nature, as Tom Allan discovered when he quit an office job to become an apprentice in Devon. Now a master of the trade, in On the Roof he goes in search of its history and future, meeting fellow thatchers, from the son of a lobster fisherman who thatches with a dune grass in the Hebrides, to a Syrian refugee who found peace among the seagrass roofs of Denmark, to one of the first women to master Japan's 5,000-year-old thatching tradition.
Eye-opening, beautifully told and revealing a tradition hand-shaped over centuries, On the Roof is a story of how we live with the land and how we have chosen to treat it.
Reviews / Votes
On The Roof is a thoughtful appreciation of a British craft .. [an] excellent, beautifully written book -- Patrick Galbraith * Sunday Times * Brilliant -- Craig Raine * Times Literary Supplement * A rich and hugely enjoyable celebration of the local, the vernacular and traditional ... a beautifully written craftsman's memoir -- Christopher Hart * Daily Mail * This well written blend of travelogue and paean to an ancient craft is beguiling -- Kate Green * Country Life * One of those books that gives you insight into a subject you didn't know you wanted to know about ... still you find yourself just so appreciative of this undying craft and the author's passion for it -- Nic Bottomley * Bath Life * [Allan's] adventure, structured as neatly as the thatching he describes, is both a love letter to an ancient craft and an exultant ode to living your truest life .... what more tangible legacy could there be than placing a roof over one's head? * World of Interiors * The fascinating story of how craft, community and nature combine to keep the roofs over our heads -- Kate Humble, author and broadcaster Tom Allan writes easily and appealingly, making his Thatcher's Journey one of discovery and delight. The gently described practicalities of the craft had me entranced -- John Wright, author * The Forager's Calendar * Hugely enjoyable - Tom Allan is a real craftsman, knowledgeable, curious and a superb storyteller -- Jasper Winn, author * Waterways * A beautifully-crafted, highly-original, spirit-lifting, hands-on adventure -- Nicholas Crane, author * The Making of the British Landscape * Told in a very engaging way. It is hard to put down * House & Garden *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 217 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
412 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-743-7 (9781788167437)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2024
Profile Books Ltd
€11.49
Available for download
Person
Tom Allan has worked as a thatcher in South Devon since 2012. Before this he planted hedges in the Scottish Borders and worked for a London publishing house. He writes about the natural world for the Guardian's Country Diary column, and has written on travel and the environment for the Financial Times, Guardian, the Earth Island Journal, British Wildlife Magazine, and others.