In the city we can live deliberately: inventing and renewing ourselves, carving out journeys, creating private spaces. But in the city we are also afraid of being alone, clinging to the structures of daily life to ward off the chaos around us.

How is it that the noisy, jostling, overwhelming metropolis leaves us at once so energized and so fragile? In Soft City, one of our most acclaimed novelists and travel writers seeks to find out. First published in the 1970s, his account is a compelling exploration of urban life: a classic in the literature of the city, more relevant to today’s overcrowded planet than ever.

'A psychological handbook for urban survival' Sunday Telegraph

Jonathan Raban is the recipient of - among other prizes - the Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Thomas Cook Award, and the Governor's Award of the State of Washington. His novel, Waxwings, was longlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize, and his most recent work of fiction, Surveillance, was published in 2006 to much acclaim. In 1990 Raban, a British citizen, moved from London to Seattle, where he now lives with his daughter.