The Book of Trespass

Nick Hayes (author)

The vast majority of our country is entirely unknown to us because we are banned from setting foot on it. By law of trespass, we are excluded from 92 per cent of the land and 97 per cent of its waterways, blocked by walls whose legitimacy is rarely questioned. But behind them lies a story of enclosure, exploitation and dispossession of public rights whose effects last to this day.

The Book of Trespass takes us on a journey over the walls of England, into the thousands of square miles of rivers, woodland, lakes and meadows that are blocked from public access. By trespassing the land of the media magnates, Lords, politicians and private corporations that own England, Nick Hayes argues that the root of social inequality is the uneven distribution of land.

Weaving together the stories of poachers, vagabonds, gypsies, witches, hippies, ravers, ramblers, migrants and protestors, and charting acts of civil disobedience that challenge orthodox power at its heart, The Book of Trespass will transform the way you see the land.

Nick Hayes is an author, illustrator and printmaker. He has published four graphic novels with Jonathan Cape and has worked for, among others, the Literary Review, Time Out, the British Council, the New Statesman and the Guardian. His first non-fiction book, The Book of Trespass, was a Sunday Times Bestseller. He has exhibited across the country, including at the Hayward Gallery. He lives on a canal boat with no fixed address.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Publ (8 July 2021)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1526604729
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.7 x 3.9 x 12.9 cm