A Tomb With a View: The Stories and Glories of Graveyards: Scottish Non-fiction Book of the Year 2021

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Peter Ross takes us on a tour of his favourite graveyards and introduces us to those who reside there, and, where temporally feasible, those who love them.

All of these sorrowful mysteries - and many more - are answered in 'A Tomb with a View', a book for anyone who has ever wandered through a field of crooked headstones and wondered about the lives and deaths of those who lie beneath. I expected to race through this book as the subject matter fascinates me however I struggled at times as the book reads as a wall of text with little room for the personalities of the people spoken to or of Ross himself. It feels in no way a particularly sad book, though at times moving, meditative, celebratory , odd and very human. In the book we learn about forgotten figures like Lilias Adie, an elderly Scot who was imprisoned as a witch in Fife in 1704. Books should not be judged by their cover, but I reserve the right to judge them by how they make me feel.Each chapter is standalone (although on the basic theme of death and graveyards) and some of them, especially later on, seem a bit unfocused, but I learned a lot and enjoyed it enormously. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

Peter Ross converses on the way with those who have chosen different ways to bury their loved ones and celebrate them , which gives me at least some inspiration about my departure!Il mio problema è il contenuto che ha deciso di raccontare per ogni cimitero: non ha sempre scelto i personaggi più importanti, o le caratteristiche peculiari di un luogo. This follows authour Peter Ross in which he goes finds out and ends up uncovering the stories of the graveyard. He moves along a non-linear path, from accounts of loneliness and mental illness to encounters with religious tension – including the burial of murdered Irish journalist Lyra McKee. I’m delighted to be starting off the blog this year with a review of a book I got for my Christmas and what a brilliant book it was – A Tomb With A View. Firstly, it is obviously a place to bury the dead, but many cemeteries are filled to capacity and since burial in the UK is in perpetuity, spaces are running out.

The families of British soldiers know what to expect when their sons sign up, Morrison replies, so if they die on active service, that’s an end to it. Early on, he mentions that cemeteries are like parks for introverts, which I love, alongside how cemeteries can become like your favorite beach. 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.James Joyce and Charles Dickens would've loved it - a book that reveals much gravity in the humour and many stories in the graveyard. Overall I enjoyed this book, given that graveyards are not something I know much about or am particularly passionate about - if such topics are your thing I think this would be an interesting read.