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A Tomb With a View – The Stories & Glories of Graveyards

Scottish Non-fiction Book of the Year 2021

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A Tomb With a View – The Stories & Glories of Graveyards

By: Peter Ross
Narrated by: Peter Ross
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'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 . . . a considered and moving book on the timely subject of how the dead are remembered, and how they go on working below the surface of our lives.' - Hilary Mantel

'Never has a book about death been so full of life. James Joyce and Charles Dickens would've loved it - a book that reveals much gravity in the humour and many stories in the graveyard. It also reveals Peter Ross to be among the best non-fiction writers in the country.' - Andrew O'Hagan

'His stories are always a joy' - Ian Rankin

'I'm a card-carrying admirer of Peter Ross' - Robert Macfarlane

'A startling, delight-filled tour of graveyards and the people who love them, dazzlingly told.' - Denise Mina

'A phenomenal, lyrical, beautiful book.' - Frank Turner


For readers of The Salt Path, Mudlarking, Ghostland, Kathleen Jamie and Robert Macfarlane.

Enter a grave new world of fascination and delight as award-winning writer Peter Ross uncovers the stories and glories of graveyards. Who are London's outcast dead and why is David Bowie their guardian angel? What is the remarkable truth about Phoebe Hessel, who disguised herself as a man to fight alongside her sweetheart, and went on to live in the reigns of five monarchs? Why is a Bristol cemetery the perfect wedding venue for goths?

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.

So push open the rusting gate, push back the ivy, and take a look inside...

(P)2020 Headline Publishing Group Limited©2020 Peter Ross Anthropology Architecture Christianity Death & Dying Europe Sociology Western Europe
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Critic reviews

Absorbing . . . considered and moving.
Fascinating . . . Ross makes a likeably idiosyncratic guide and one finishes the book feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable.
The pages burst with life and anecdote while also examining our relationship with remembrance.
Among the year's most surprising "sleeper" successes is A Tomb with a View, Peter Ross's critically acclaimed ode to "the stories and glories of graveyards". In a year with so much death, it may have initially seemed a hard sell, but the author's humanity has instead acted as a beacon of light in the darkness.
Never has a book about death been so full of life. James Joyce and Charles Dickens would've loved it - a book that reveals much gravity in the humour and many stories in the graveyard. It also reveals Peter Ross to be among the best non-fiction writers in the country.
I have nothing but admiration for his way to winkle out a story from the living as well as paying homage to the dead.
Ross has written [a] lively elegy to Britain's best burial grounds.
A brilliant buy
A startling, delight-filled tour of graveyards and the people who love them, dazzlingly told.
Beautifully written and strangely life affirming.
A walk through the graveyards of Britain guided by one of the most engaging wordsmiths willing to take you by the hand.
It is not too fanciful to talk of the soul of A Tomb With A View. It is replete with stories but it echoes with something profound.
Scottish journalist Ross's meander around graveyards raises profound questions about the way in which we mourn
Peter Ross makes a fine contribution to the library of books about "being planted". . . I have nothing but admiration for his way to winkle out a story from the living as well as paying homage to the dead
Everyday humanity, an acknowledgement of how life continues in the presence of the dead. . . is writ large in A Tomb with a View, in Ross's encounters with tour guides, local historians, a gardener, a stonecutter, even a recent widow.
Ross's book is an engaging ramble among the gravestones and burial plots of Britain and Ireland
I'm a card-carrying admirer of Peter Ross.
His stories are always a joy.
An evocative and uplifting exploration of cemeteries, where every headstone has a story to tell. . . Ross is a wonderfully evocative writer, deftly capturing a sense of place and history, while bringing a deep humanity to his subject. He has written a delightful book.
Ross' development into a sensitive and empathetic observer of social ritual has culminated in this treasure
All stars
Most relevant
Such a gorgeous book. Brought to life by the author, so glad I chose to listen as an audio book. So fascinating

Just beautiful

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Ive always been fascinated by cemeteries, so this should have been right up my street. And the book itself was, but the authors accent was just too broad scottish to understand everything he was saying.......,..yet another example of an audio ruined by its authors narration. A great shame.......

Ruined by narration,.......

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Such a beautifully written book. It might seem odd that a book about graveyards and death could be so affirming and uplifting, but it is. For it's really, of course, a book about life.

This is non-fiction at its best – hugely interesting and informative, but also deeply human. The writing is sublime: philosophical, poignant, poetic. I work as a book editor, so I read a vast array of books, from terrible to brilliant. The very best non-fic manages to illuminate, hold interest and shine a light on some aspect of this whole malarkey of being human. This is one such book. Peter Ross is in complete command of his writing. I read a rather pompous review that takes a pop at the book for its fondness for a fancy phrase, but, for me, and as a fellow editor, the writing is a large part of the book's quality and appeal. It makes it engaging and enjoyable to listen. My first rule as an editor is: you have to respect a writer's style (rather than try to impose your own). Ross has panache as a writer, and there really are some very beautiful passages – pure poetry – as well as plenty of lines of wryness and wit that made me smile.

This is one of those books that reminds you how incredible and generous humans can be – there are many deeply moving sections that leave you with a strong feeling of human kindness. Thank you, Peter Ross.

Stunning – philosophical, poignant, poetic

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Well researched book written by someone who has a passion not just for the facts but for people and emotions. It was well read too. I was sorry that it had to end.

Fascinating and wide ranging well read book

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Mr Ross tells stories that are not just moving, inspiring and respectful, but show that while graveyards may hold the dead, they hold a record of the living, and preserve the story of a community in a very special and unique way. Lovely performance by the author, highly recommended.

Poignant and moving

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