Every now and again, a coffee table book too gripping to spend much time on the coffee table is published; The Gentle Author’s Spitalfields Life, just recently published, is one such tome.

For those of you unfamiliar with the blog from which the book has sprung, it’s a wonderfully personal account of the (still anonymous) author’s explorations of the people who make up the East End of London. From the Spitalfields milkman to the artist who can often be seen walking around East End pubs collecting bottle tops, The Gentle Author does what many of us long to do; spends time chatting to the eccentrics, the characters and the mainstays of the east who we often see and wonder how they got there and just what their story is.

With illustrations by local artists Mark Hearld, Lucinda Rogers and Rob Ryan, there are a total of 365 chapters in this handsome book – a chapter every day for the year.

A fascinating glimpse into the lives of East London residents both past and present combined with a prose style that has been compared with that other famous flaneur of the East, Dickens, this is the ultimate tribute to conversations held over terribly British cups of tea and distinctly localised meals of pie and mash, jellied eels and bread and butter pudding.

So without further ado, we’re pleased to announce we have five copies of this beautiful book to give away. Simply head over to Twitter, where we will be giving away a copy of the book every day this week!