A revelatory portrait of Britain through its islands, The Britannias weaves history, myth, and travelogue to rewrite the story of this “island nation.”

From Neolithic Orkney, Viking Shetland, and Druidical Anglesey to the joys and strangeness of modern Thanet, The Britannias explores the farthest reaches of Britain’s island topography, once known by the collective term “Britanniae” (the Britains). This expansive journey demonstrates how the smaller islands have wielded disproportionate influence on the mainland, becoming the fertile ground of political, cultural, and technological innovations that shaped history throughout the archipelago.

In an act of feminist inquiry, personal adventure, and literary quest, Alice Albinia takes us over borders and through disparate island cultures, past and present. She uncovers the enduring and subversive mythology of islands ruled by women—finding female independence woven through Roman colonial reports and Welsh medieval poetry, Restoration utopias and island folk songs—and sheds light on women’s status in the body politic today. The Britannias boldly upturns established truths about Britain while revealing its suppressed and forgotten beauty.

About the Author: 

Alice Albinia is the award-winning author of Empires of the Indus, Leela's Book, and Cwen. Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and National Geographic, among other publications.