The story of a place – and the people politics too often forgets, from the no. 1 bestselling author of Politics on the Edge

‘Rare and life-affirming’ MICHAEL MORPURGO

‘Personal, wise and often funny’ CAROLINE LUCAS

Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as MP for Britain’s most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border, living among Cumbria’s fells, farms and ancient frontiers.

Drawing on pieces written during his years as an MP, Middleland is both a love letter to rural Britain – exploring tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national demands – and a quietly radical argument for how politics might better serve the people it represents.

‘A triumph’ Literary Review

‘A moving, grounded look at rural Britain’ i Paper

‘Intriguing…enjoyable’ Daily Telegraph

‘Full of intelligence and panache’ Scotsman

‘Refreshingly honest’ Country Life

‘Stewart sees Cumbria’s glory’ New Statesman

"A triumph... [His columns] are very good indeed. His accounts of Cumbria as a sort of lost land are stark pieces of reportage... To read Middleland is to understand that rural England and those who make it ought to be protected... We are left with a distinct feeling that this country would be a better place if all MPs loved their constituencies as Rory Stewart clearly loved his." - Literary Review

"Full of intelligence and panache" - Scotsman

"Stewart was not your usual politician, and these eloquent articles… skilfully edited into a very readable diary, range widely across the constituency…. A serendipitous treat… [An] enjoyable book" - Telegraph

"A thoughtful love letter to his former constituency... He writes with a wonderful familiarity of the region... refreshingly honest" - Country Life

"Middleland is the latest instalment in the ongoing Rory Stewart project, which asks: what is my country, and what can I do for it?... His writing is limpid, reflective, often beautiful." - The New World

"A moving, grounded look at rural Britain" - i

"Stewart sees Cumbria's glory... [his] writing on all these subjects combines erudition, a fine turn of phrase... disarming admissions of fallibility and a certain amount of backing into the limelight." - New Statesman

"[A] fascinating and honest collection of daily anecdotes and stories of everyday folk, and of how the best intentions often end up on stony ground due to the realities of national politics" - UK Press Syndication