Description
Book Synopsis**WINNER OF THE SCOTTISH NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2021**
**A FINANCIAL TIMES, I PAPER AND STYLIST BOOK OF THE YEAR**
''In his absorbing book about the lost and the gone, Peter Ross takes us from Flanders Fields to Milltown to Kensal Green, to melancholy islands and surprisingly lively ossuaries . . . a considered and moving book on the timely subject of how the dead are remembered, and how they go on working below the surface of our lives.'' - Hilary Mantel
''Ross is a wonderfully evocative writer, deftly capturing a sense of place and history, while bringing a deep humanity to his subject. He has written a delightful book.'' - The Guardian
''The pages burst with life and anecdote while also examining our relationship with remembrance.'' - Financial Times (best travel books of 2020)
''Among the year''s most surprising sleeper successes is A Tomb with a View. In a year wit
Trade Review
Absorbing . . . considered and moving. * Hilary Mantel *
Fascinating . . . Ross makes a likeably idiosyncratic guide and one finishes the book feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable. * The Observer *
The pages burst with life and anecdote while also examining our relationship with remembrance. * Financial Times *
Among the year's most surprising "sleeper" successes is A Tomb with a View, Peter Ross's critically acclaimed ode to "the stories and glories of graveyards". In a year with so much death, it may have initially seemed a hard sell, but the author's humanity has instead acted as a beacon of light in the darkness. * The Sunday Times *
Never has a book about death been so full of life. James Joyce and Charles Dickens would've loved it - a book that reveals much gravity in the humour and many stories in the graveyard. It also reveals Peter Ross to be among the best non-fiction writers in the country. * Andrew O'Hagan *
I have nothing but admiration for his way to winkle out a story from the living as well as paying homage to the dead. * The Scotsman *
Ross has written [a] lively elegy to Britain's best burial grounds. * Evening Standard *
A brilliant buy * Stylist *
A startling, delight-filled tour of graveyards and the people who love them, dazzlingly told. * Denise Mina *
Beautifully written and strangely life affirming. * Norman Blake, Teenage Fanclub *
A walk through the graveyards of Britain guided by one of the most engaging wordsmiths willing to take you by the hand. * The Big Issue *
It is not too fanciful to talk of the soul of A Tomb With A View. It is replete with stories but it echoes with something profound. * The Herald *
Scottish journalist Ross's meander around graveyards raises profound questions about the way in which we mourn * I News - Christmas Gift Guide 2020 *
Peter Ross makes a fine contribution to the library of books about "being planted". . . I have nothing but admiration for his way to winkle out a story from the living as well as paying homage to the dead * The Scotsman’s Scottish Books of the Year *
Everyday humanity, an acknowledgement of how life continues in the presence of the dead. . . is writ large in A Tomb with a View, in Ross's encounters with tour guides, local historians, a gardener, a stonecutter, even a recent widow. * Prospect *
Ross's book is an engaging ramble among the gravestones and burial plots of Britain and Ireland * Irish Examiner *
I'm a card-carrying admirer of Peter Ross. * Robert Macfarlane *
His stories are always a joy. * Ian Rankin *
An evocative and uplifting exploration of cemeteries, where every headstone has a story to tell. . . Ross is a wonderfully evocative writer, deftly capturing a sense of place and history, while bringing a deep humanity to his subject. He has written a delightful book. * The Guardian Book of The Day *
Ross' development into a sensitive and empathetic observer of social ritual has culminated in this treasure * The Big Issue *
A phenomenal, lyrical, beautiful book * Frank Turner *
A startling, delight-filled tour of graveyards and the people who love them, dazzlingly told. * Denise Mina *
[a] celebration of life and of love. It confronts our universal fate but tends towards a comforting embrace of mortality. It is also imbued with something deeply moving. * The Herald *
