The Dig by John Preston Paperback Book 9780241989630

A brilliantly realised account of the most famous archeological dig in British history now a major motion picture starring Ralph Fiennes Carey Mulligan and Lily JamesExquisitely original Ian MacEwanAn enthralling story of love and loss Robert HarrisIn 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 Pretty 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 that this is no ordinary findJohn Prestons recreation of the Sutton Hoo dig the greatest AngloSaxon discovery ever in Britain brilliantly and comically dramatizes three months of intense activity when locals fought outsiders professionals thwarted amateurs and love and rivalry flourished in equal measureA tale of rivalry loss and thwarted love so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day and its not often I miss a meal Nigella LawsonA delicate evocation of a vanished era Sunday Times