Travel & Biography
Stories of places, journeys and people
Paul Hyland’s travel books explore the biography of place: the unlikely accretion of autobiography, story, history, natural history, myth, archaeology and geology whose layers define and nourish the people who live on them, the people from the past and the present whose tales and secrets he encounters. He investigates islands and rivers, boundaries and horizons, limits and possibilities. When he turns to biography proper it too turns out to be the story of a journey, both literal and metaphorical.
Ralegh’s Last Journey
A tale of madness, vanity & treachery
“A masterful tale of skullduggery, deception and mystery.” Giles Milton, Living History
“Moving in its portrait of a mind at the end of its tether.” Nick Rennison Sunday Times
“A little-known slice of a well-known life… challenges many assumptions.” Dea Birkett, Independent
“Enthralling.” Sunday Telegraph
“A fascinating and compelling, terribly human story.” Listener (N.Z.)
Indian Balm
Travels amongst fakirs and fire warriors
“As pungently aromatic as a Madras curry.” Sunday Telegraph BOOKS OF THE YEAR
“Indian Balm sheds vivid and dramatic light on this unsung Indian province. A richly rewarding read.” John Keay, author of India: A History
“Extraordinarily revealing.” Country Life
“Balm for armchair travellers… magnificent… this cracker of a book.” Western Morning News
“A thoroughly engrossing read.” Choice BOOK OF THE MONTH
Backwards Out of the Big World
A Voyage into Portugal
“Hyland’s masterly prose defines perfectly an instant in the evolution of one of Europe’s most fascinating and yet underestimated states.” Michael Asher, The Guardian BOOKS OF THE YEAR
“A delicious book.” Cactus Review
“If you are going to Portugal, you must carry this book in your pocket.” Sara Wheeler, Literary Review
“You’ll probably want to go to Portugal too, after you’ve read this book.” Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR
The Babel Guide
to the Fiction of Portugal, Brazil & Africa in English translation
Written by Ray Keenoy, David Treece and Paul Hyland, with other contributors, this guide offers reviews of the best fiction from Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.
Paul Hyland reviews works by Pessoa, Saramago, António Lobo Antunes, Eça de Queirós, Almeida Garrett, Antonio Tabucchi and José Cardoso Pires.
“Illuminating articles on Fernando Pessoa and José Saramago by Paul Hyland.” Times Literary Supplement
Isle of Purbeck
Discover Dorset
Despite its popularity, few corners of England hold as many secret delights as the Isle of Purbeck – or remain so unspoilt. With a past dominated by the marble and stone industry, and a present by the ruins of Corfe Castle and the largest onshore oilfield in Europe, Purbeck’s charm continues to beguile both visitors and residents alike.
Wild heathland, windswept heights, as intoxicating a coast as any in Britain, a concentration of miniature landscapes packed into some sixty square miles – the paradoxical “little paradise” so vividly unfolded by Paul Hyland still retains its unique character.
The Black Heart
A Voyage into Central Africa
“The verve and colour of Africa bound from these pages.” Dervla Murphy Times Literary Supplement
“A captivating, entrancing, gorgeous read.” London Evening Standard
“A powerful and fascinating journey… Paul Hyland’s ardent, allusive prose is subtly suited to its subject… this voyage into Conrad’s ‘heart of darkness’ is steadied by intelligence and a contagious delight in African history.” Colin Thubron, New York Times Book Review BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Wight
Biography of an Island
“Exceptional… a kind of inner guide to its history and ecology. Only a writer of Hyland’s distinction could be so revelatory.” Ronald Blythe, author of Akenfield
“A scintillating guide.” Isle of Wight Mercury
“Wight gets splendidly beneath the skin.” Southern Evening Echo
“To visitors to Wight, the book is indispensable; to islanders it is a source of self-knowledge.” Martin Booth, British Book News
Purbeck
The Ingrained Island
“This fine book…combines biological knowledge with a poet’s selective eye, sense of atmosphere, and most appropriately lapidary prose.” Kevin Crossley-Holland Sunday Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR
“Written in immaculate prose, tightly knit, every word made to tell.” Eastern Daily Press
“A fine contribution to Dorset literature – and, indeed, to topographical writing in general.” Victor E. Neuburg British Book News
“A work of beauty, personal and intensely felt.” Mary Cosh The Times