It is easy to find England on a map—it is part of that conspicuous thing in the North Sea, just off the French coast, and to the left of Denmark and Norway. It gets trickier once you are there: not even the English are keen to explain what England really is. Why do the English eat what they eat? Why do they do what they do? And why does the world think that England and Englishness is something to aspire to, something to adore? Holger Ehling takes us on a journey to iconic places, from London to Jarrow, from Stonehenge to Chipping Norton, from Shakespeare's Globe to the marvels of Blackpool, pondering along the way about history and everyday life and about what it is that makes these places and these people so quintessentially English and, therefore, different. We will meet royals and beggars, con-artists and real artists, heroes and villains, English roses and the legacy of the Empire Windrush. And perhaps, just perhaps—we will find England.

Holger Ehling is a journalist, writer and broadcaster who lives in Frankfurt, Germany. For more than 30 years he has roamed Africa, Oceania and Latin America as a reporter, and has worked as the London correspondent for German and English-language media.