The Dig

Preston, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670914916 ISBN 13: 9780670914913

Publisher: Viking, 2007

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.

Review:

Praise for John Preston's previous novels:

'The quality of the writing is superb ... Preston is a natural' Independent

'Wonderful comic territory ... like a Martin Amis novel rewritten by Sir Kingsley' Mail on Sunday

'Utterly compelling' Irish Times

'The work of a master' Evening Standard

'One of the three or four best new novels I have read in the Nineties' Sunday Telegraph

'Makes you think, but above all it makes you laugh' Evening Standard

About the Author:

John Preston is the author of three highly acclaimed novels and a travel book. He writes for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, and lives in west London.