«In this vitally important book . . . Edward Platt travelled to every waterlogged, storm struck, flooded and overwhelmed area of Britain . . . Platt is both keen observer, sympathetic listener, eager apprentice and shrewd commentator, with a weather eye on the future and a deep understanding of the past»

Ebenezer Presents

«Platt frequently draws on literature, whether William Blake, J. G. Ballard, Carol Ann Duffy, Rebecca Solnit or the Epic of Gilgamesh, but the book’s main focus is local: Platt covers ground on foot in the aftermath of deluges, around the tributaries of England and Wales . . . Sympathetic to the unromantic, everyday nature of suffering, Platt also has an eye for the absurd . . . Striking environmental facts are relayed through equally striking stories . . . The Great Flood’s strength lies in the vivid historical context in which Platt’s subject is couched.»

TLS

«How we visualise climate catastrophe tends toward the epic, the exotic . . . Platt instead locates its effects in the everyday: the flooding experienced by England’s picture postcard towns and occasionally decrepit coastal settlements . . . The Great Flood makes the global local in the same way that the climate emergency does. Platt’s writing combines sharp reportage with a poet’s eye for a striking image that vividly captures the otherworldly, waterlogged landscapes he travels through . . . “When it comes to climate change, we are all to blame.”»

Guardian

«A reporter of fearless imagination»

Simon Jenkins, The Times

«[An] engrossing account of floods ancient and modern»

Sunday Times

«Fascinating»

Choice

«Sobering»

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