“Sebald is the Joyce of the 21st century” - The Times. What begins as a record of W. G. Sebald's own journey through the coastal region of East Anglia, from Lowestoft to Bungay, becomes a medium for memories of people and cultures from both past and present. From Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne, and Conrad to fishing fleets, skulls, and silkworms, it evolves into a beautifully crafted and poignant book about the transience of all human things. “A novel of ideas with a difference: it is nothing but ideas… Formally skillful, fearlessly written (why shouldn’t an essay be a novel?), and relentlessly mysterious; by the end, I was in tears” - Teju Cole, Guardian.