Philip Marsden’s travel books have taken him to Poland (for The Bronski House), through post-Soviet Russia (The Spirit Wrestlers) and sailing round the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland (The Summer Isles). For his next, Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Rocks (Granta, February 13, 2025), he follows the ancient tin trading routes from his home in Cornwall across Europe to Georgia. It’s a book, his publisher says, in which he “traces the dazzling achievements and dark consequences of our ability to extract what we want from the earth, and presents a fascinating new perspective on European history and on our troubled relationship with the natural world”. An early reader, the travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron, says Under a Metal Sky is “A luminously rich exploration of the mineral wonderland beneath our feet. Imaginatively travelled and beautifully written.”