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To Dream of the Dead
To Dream of the Dead | Phil Rickman
2 posts | 5 read
December, and the river is rising. The village of Ledwardine has never been flooded in living memory. Within days it will be an island. There's no electricity. The church is serving as a temporary mortuary for two people who drowned. Only one man feels safer. An aggressively atheist author has been moved, for his own safety, Rushdie-style, into a secluded house just outside the village. Fundamentalist Christians have hated him for years. Now he's offended the Muslims. Bad move. Meanwhile, archaeologists, assisted by Merrily's teenage daughter, Jane, are at work in Coleman's Meadow, unearthing an ancient row of standing stones which some people would rather stay buried. The atheist's temporary home is close to the site. And his young wife is becoming conspicuously agitated. Is it the fear of discovery--or the kind of fear that she, of all people, could never disclose? One thing is clear: the last person who's going to be welcome in that house is an exorcist. With the flood water washing up Church Lane towards the vicarage and the shop running out of cigarettes it looks like a cold and complex Christmas for Merrily Watkins in an ancient community forced to untangle its own history against the swirling uncertainty of the future.
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review
OutsmartYourShelf
To Dream of the Dead | Phil Rickman
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Panpan

The village of Ledwardine is in danger of being flooded. The awful weather coincides with the appearance of a TV crew whose show televises archaeological digs & it looks as if there may be some hope to save the buried ancient standing stones. Meanwhile an infamous & controversial atheist rents the converted barn next to the dig. Is this the perfect storm to uncover the hidden history of the village or a perfect nightmare for Merrily? (cont'd)

OutsmartYourShelf This is an odd one (& in this series that's more difficult than you think). There's really only the barest whiff of possible paranormal happenings & it's more about the dwindling role of religion in the UK's secular society & the poor state of archaeological funding. I do appreciate the research the author does about the local area but wish that one day Merrily would stop being so passive, & that we get an actual haunting. 2⭐ 14mo
TheSpineView Bummer. Hope your next book is better. 14mo
DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 14mo
Andrew65 Oh no 😫 14mo
26 likes5 comments
quote
StairwayToHeaven
To Dream of the Dead | Phil Rickman

An investigation this size was more like snooker than frigging rugby – a lot of balls on the table and you didn‘t just pick one up and run with it.