The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

Crockatt & Powell hover like intellectual eagles (ahem) above the book trade. Our piercing gaze spots the best books and plucks them from the dross like little mice from a field of long grass. We then present these juicy literary titbits, catlike, at your be-slippered feet...

But sometimes the little tasty buggers slip down their holes in time and evade our gaze.

That was the case with this EXCELLENT and MOST EXCITING book.

The Ghost Map will grab you from the first line:

"It is August 1854, and London is a city of scavengers."

In fact I was gripped from page two of the preface where a quote from Walter Benjamin that is too long to insert here (you'll justy have to buy the book won't you!).