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The Dig
John Preston
€ 10.99
€ 9.70
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Description for The Dig
Paperback. In the long hot summer of 1939, Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Petty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds, it becomes clear though that this is no ordinary find. Num Pages: 240 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 121 x 16. Weight in Grams: 174.
In the long hot summer of 1939 Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Petty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear though that this is no ordinary find ... And pretty soon the discovery leads to all kinds of jealousies and tensions. John Preston's recreation of the Sutton Hoo dig - the greatest Anglo-Saxon discovery ever in Britain - brilliantly and comically dramatizes three months of intense activity when locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs, and love and rivaly flourished in equal measure
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2008
Publisher
Penguin
Condition
New
Number of Pages
240
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780141016382
SKU
9780141016382
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 2 to 4 working days
Ref
99-1
About John Preston
John Preston is a former Arts Editor of the Evening Standard and the Sunday Telegraph. For ten years he was the Sunday Telegraph's television critic and one of its chief feature writers. His novel, The Dig, based on the 1939 archaeological excavation at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, has been filmed starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James. His first nonfiction book, A Very English Scandal, was published to great acclaim in 2016 and turned into BAFTA-winning BBC drama series. His latest book Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell was published to great acclaim in February 2021. It has been shortlisted for both the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Costa Biography Prize and is being adapted for television by Working Title productions.
Reviews for The Dig
Very fine, engrossing, exquisitely original
Ian McEwan
An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year
Robert Harris
You don't need to be in archaeology - this is a tale of rivalry, loss and thwarted love. It's so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it's not often I miss a meal
Nigella Lawson
A rich vein of dry humour runs throughout
Evening Standard
Intriguing, tender and entertaining … easily Preston's best
Independent
A delicate, quietly affecting human drama
Daily Mail
A moving novel that coheres wonderully as it progresses
Spectator
A delicate evocation of a vanished era
Sunday Times
Wonderful, evocative. From this simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold. He keeps an iron grip on the reader's attention
Observer
Beatutifully written...there is a true and wonderful ending to the story
Bill Wyman
Mail on Sunday
Wistful and poignant. A masterpiece in Chekhovian understatement
Times Literary Supplement
Exciting, evocative and beautifully written. A treasure in itself
Griff Rhys Jones
Shimmers with longing and regret . . . Preston writes with economical grace . . . He has written a kind of universal chamber piece, small in detail, beautifully made and liable to linger on in the heart and the mind. It is something utterly unfamiliar, and quite wonderful.
Michael Pye
The New York Times Book Review
An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year
Robert Harris
Ian McEwan
An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year
Robert Harris
You don't need to be in archaeology - this is a tale of rivalry, loss and thwarted love. It's so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it's not often I miss a meal
Nigella Lawson
A rich vein of dry humour runs throughout
Evening Standard
Intriguing, tender and entertaining … easily Preston's best
Independent
A delicate, quietly affecting human drama
Daily Mail
A moving novel that coheres wonderully as it progresses
Spectator
A delicate evocation of a vanished era
Sunday Times
Wonderful, evocative. From this simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold. He keeps an iron grip on the reader's attention
Observer
Beatutifully written...there is a true and wonderful ending to the story
Bill Wyman
Mail on Sunday
Wistful and poignant. A masterpiece in Chekhovian understatement
Times Literary Supplement
Exciting, evocative and beautifully written. A treasure in itself
Griff Rhys Jones
Shimmers with longing and regret . . . Preston writes with economical grace . . . He has written a kind of universal chamber piece, small in detail, beautifully made and liable to linger on in the heart and the mind. It is something utterly unfamiliar, and quite wonderful.
Michael Pye
The New York Times Book Review
An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year
Robert Harris