The Dig: Now a BAFTA-nominated motion picture starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James

Good

This book should not be missed. I first read ‘The Dig’ several years ago, enjoyed it thoroughly and passed it on. The memory of it stayed with me, but inevitably merged with all things archaeological in newspapers, books and on TV. Then along came the film adaptation which I watched and enjoyed - to an extent, but felt it a compromise, and in some instances indelicate. So, I decided to buy another copy of the book and have been so pleased and rewarded that I did. The novel is written with 4 narrators. This is what makes the books so much better for me. There is more to learn and to enjoy about the characters from their view point and it reminds that this is a book of fiction and why fiction is fundamentally important. The narrations of Edith Pretty and Peggy Piggot are at the heart of this novel (as they should be) as this is about people first and foremost; an exploration of loss, disappointment, the wheel of time, and what of us we leave behind. The male narrations have their place, but the women make the book special. I thought long and hard about what seems something of an abrupt end to the novel and it actually fits. It is no surprise and no regret that there are no narratives from the professional archaeologists who all appear earth-bound. What I hope will remain in me are the individual narratives of the four characters.

This elegant historical novel is well-conceived and beautifully written. The author recreates the excavation of Sutton Hoo through the eyes of various participants, drawing on authentic detail and historical material. The result is both convincing and emotionally moving. There can be no explosive conclusion save what we already know: the excavation was successful, which is the reason there's a story at all. The novel's limitations, however, are finally one of its many strengths: it sticks to the facts while animating within the parameters of what is known-- or even knowable-- about this particular historical moment. I highly recommend this book not as intense drama (despite its dramatic moments) but as excellent historical fiction by a sensitive author who writes with informed understanding not only of his material but of both narrative and language.

Any novel about archaeology that is bathed in nostalgia and recommended by Iain McEwan should be ticking all the boxes. Given the glowing comments I had heard regarding the screen adaption of this book, my hopes were set very high for this book yet I found this novella disappointing on every level. The discovery of the Sutton Hoo hoard is one of the pivotal moments in British archaeology and helped plug the gap in our understanding over the period following the departure of the Roman and the early medieval period of Late Saxon England. The finds occupy pride of place in the British Museum and the story of Basil Brown is in itself very English given the fact that he was a brilliant amateur. I have to say that I think John Preston has really done Brown a disservice in this novel and compounded the problem by putting himself into the shoes of two female protagonists - something that always makes me uncomfortable with male writers. The novel has two undercurrents running through it. The first of these is to do with class and how Brown was ostracized by the archaeological "establishment" and the looming threat of Nazi invasion in 1939 - the irony being that the Saxons had themselves been Germanic invaders. However, my dissatisfaction with this novel goes well beyond this. I think the this book tries to be an archaeological equivalent of "The remains of the day" and the overriding problem for me is how something that was so exciting in real life can be rendered so dull on the page. The excavation itself is almost a sideshow to the novel but the sub-plots never seem to have much relevance to the plot. I picked this book up immediately after reading an exceptional novel by William Boyd where the strength of his writing makes you overlook the rather incredible basis of the fictional plot. By contrast, I felt that Preston had taken something that was both true and incredible and rendered it dull and cliched. In my opinion both Brown and the site itself merited something better and I am now eager to see what the film makers made of this story to see if they gave the story it's just desserts. For a novel that should have had the reader glued to the page, this book was strangely unengaging. It has a similar feel to the novel written about 15 years ago called "The Damned" which was about Brian Clough's tenure at Leeds Utd. That book shared the same feel of not being quite right.

Not nearly as good as the marketing suggests. I know the Sutton Hoo story well and looked forward to reading Preston's novel but I felt very short handed after reading the book. Apart from a few niggling details (the High Street in Woodbridge is actually called The Throughfare and have to question whether any one village in England had 61 men serving in WW1) the prose is purple, leaden and difficult to believe. The book didn't hold my attention and I'm astonished at some of the reviews I have read calling it a masterpiece. Was it this the book critics were reading?

I am a volunteer for the National Trust at Sutton Hoo, have watched the film The Dig a couple of times and felt I should read the book as well. It's important to be able to tell visitors about the differences between historical facts and a romanticised version.This novel moves as gently and smoothly as the River Deben, with less 'plot' than the film, although still introducing a non-existent nephew of Edith Pretty as the love interest of Peggy Piggott as the photographer of the site, replacing the two schoolmistresses who actually recorded the original excavations whilst on holiday in the area.I read the book in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it in its own right and setting aside its economy with the truth. My only frustration was with the reference to the village on the north shore of the Deben estuary. Its name is Bawdsey, not Bardsey!