Here is how travel writer H.V. Morton decribes an English market town, in the years between the two great world wars of the 20th century: "Romsey, in the magic county of Hampshire, is the ideal small market town. Lord Palmerston, with hair turned green by years of rain, stands importantly on a plinth in the market place; a policeman in an easier attitude stands near him; there is a full cake shop opposite;...now and then a man and a cow cross the square..."

This small but vivid description from the book In Search Of England gives us just a "smatch" of Morton's colorful and evocative prose. Copyrighted in the 1930's and a best seller in its time, In Search Of England gives us something more: a look at an England that can no longer be visited, except through Morton's magical prose. What intervened was, of course, the Second World War, greater and more tragic than its predecessor. And its predecessor was so great that this book and his In Search Of Scotland are full of images and tales of people still trying to recover and rebuild.

One can't read In Search Of England without wondering how much of what Morton wrote about here has been lost forever. But in a sense, in writing about lost England, he has helped immortalized it. Learn about the castles and cathedrals, many of which are still standing; but also for the lost ways of life and the people who led them: the craftsmen, the nobility, and even the pensioners of St. Cross. For those who love travel, history, the human heritage, read this book.