The Dig, John Preston
The Dig, John Preston
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The Dig

Author: John Preston

Narrator: Simon Vance, Kate Reading, Fiona Hardingham, Derek Perkins

Unabridged: 6 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/05/2016

Synopsis

Reimagining the Sutton Hoo dig, the greatest Anglo-Saxon archaeological discovery on British soil, John Preston brilliantly dramatizes three months of intense activity on a small estate when locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs, and love and rivalry flourished in equal measure.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. Pretty, a widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As an archaeological dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary find, and the discovery leads to a host of jealousies and tensions.Elegantly crafted with great tenderness and a poignant attention to detail, The Dig is more than a novel about archaeology. At its very core, this is a novel about the traces of life we all leave behind.

About John Preston

John Preston was a pioneer in the early gay rights movement and publishing initiatives and the author or editor of more than twenty-five acclaimed books. Along with the Black Berets series, he wrote numerous entries in Gold Eagle’s Soldiers of Barrabas series under the pseudonym Jack Hild. As Preston McAdam, he wrote the three books in the Michael Sheriff: The Shield series.

About Simon Vance

Simon Vance is the critically acclaimed narrator of approximately 400 audiobooks, winner of 27 AudioFile Earphones Awards, and a 12-time Audie Award-winner. He won an Audie in 2006 in the category of Science Fiction and was named the 2011 Best Voice in Biography and History and in 2010 Best Voice in Fiction by AudioFile magazine.   Vance has been a narrator for the past 25 years, and also worked for many years as a BBC Radio presenter and newsreader in London.  Some of his best-selling and most praised audiobook performances include Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies (an Audie award-winner), Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series (all 21 titles), the new productions of Frank Herbert’s original Dune series, and Rob Gifford’s China Road (an AudioFile 2007 Book of the Year). Vance lives near San Francisco with his wife and two sons.

About Kate Reading

Kate Reading is an Audie Award–winning narrator and has received numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine. Other Spoken Realms audiobooks: The Letters of Jane Austen; Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey; The Prophet, co-narrated with husband Michael Kramer, who also narrated Wanderer of the Wasteland. Kate and Michael record at their studio in Maryland.

About Fiona Hardingham

Fiona Hardingham is a British-born actress, singer, voice-over artist, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. On stage, she appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in her comedic one-woman show The Dark Show. She has also starred in the dark-comedy short film The Ballerino. She earned a BA honors degree in performing arts from Middlesex University, London, and also studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

About Derek Perkins

Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, as well as numerous Society of Voice Arts nominations. AudioFile magazine named him a Best Voice consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Trish on February 06, 2017

This beautifully composed short novel by John Preston may be most notable for its simplicity and understatement. In restrained tones that recall J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country, we are treated to Edith Pretty, aged and wealthy owner of Sutton Hoo estate, who determines to discover if there is any......more

Goodreads review by Andy on October 07, 2023

An odd sort of novel, which lost its way completely at the halfway point, when the three main characters were suddenly usurped by an entirely new cast of characters and then promptly forgotten. It's not John Preston's fault, as such - the book is based on actual events, and the shift in personnel re......more

Goodreads review by Roger on May 31, 2016

Not-So-Dark Ages Serious fiction these days is often so complex and allusive, that it is a real pleasure to read a novel that tells a story absolutely straight, with plenty of human interest, yet without slighting the considerable intellectual value of the subject. The Dig is an account of the 1939 e......more

Goodreads review by Ken on May 14, 2021

I'd only found out about this novel and the fascinating true story concerning the archaeological dig at Sutton Hoo during 1939 thanks to Netflix. The reason why this find was so important is due the vast amount of Anglo-Saxon treasures unearthed whilst the impending war adds pressure on the team to e......more

Goodreads review by spillingthematcha on February 01, 2021

Tak bardzo potrzebowałam teraz takiej historii. Tak pięknej, spokojnej, pełnej melancholii. Ta powieść trafiła idealnie w mój gust i od razu zajęła specjalne miejsce w moim sercu.......more

Quotes

“You don’t need to be in archaeology—this is a tale of rivalry, loss, and thwarted love. It’s so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it’s not often I miss a meal.” Nigella Lawson

“Very fine, engrossing, exquisitely original.” Ian McEwan, New York Times bestselling author

“An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year.” Robert Harris, New York Times bestselling author

“The Dig retells the story of the famous Sutton Hoo excavation…All the elements are here for a corking adventure yarn, perhaps in the style of Howard Carter’s account of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb…Mr. Preston creates an intriguing and ultimately moving concoction, a true-life chronicle that delves into secrets of the heart.” Wall Street Journal

“John Preston’s subtle novel The Dig imagines something…remarkable: an excavation that carefully, gently exposes the searchers’ own lives and feelings to the light, just as they brush sand away from buried treasure…He has written a kind of universal chamber piece, small in detail, beautifully made, and liable to linger on in the heart and the mind. It is something utterly unfamiliar, and quite wonderful.” New York Times Book Review

“This is a wonderful, evocative book. From his simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold.” Guardian (London)

“Wistful and poignant. A masterpiece in Chekhovian understatement.” Times Literary Supplement

“This is a lively and informative fictionalized account of the 1939 excavation that unearthed the Anglo Saxon royal treasure hoard, known as Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, England. Told by multiple narrators, the story unfolds gradually, revealing its essence, much like, well, a dig…With its sense of a magical land, awareness of class concerns, and unrelenting understatement and reticence, this tale is as English as a picnic by the side of the road in a light drizzle. As Downton Abbey sinks into the sunset, bereft Abbots might find some consolation here, and, added depth, naturally.” Library Journal

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