' years to come may be the last of English weather . If so, there is consolation in the thought that the damp glory of our island climate will live on in the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Constable and Turner' - Daily Mail 'Splendid ... its glory is in the detail, in its recording of facts and lives, atmospheres and words, quirks of feeling and behaviour' - A. S. Byatt, Guardian 'Gathers all the written English centuries and sets them dancing to the seasons on the head of its pin' - Ali Smith, Times Literary Supplement 'A brilliant, beautiful and sensual book' - Sunday Times 'A dazzling journey through the weather-worlds of English culture and history' - Robert Macfarlane 'A fascinating portrait of that most British of preoccupations' - Independent