'An insightful and engaging reflection on the appeal of the ancient' – The Times

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

The prehistoric sites of Britain and Ireland are places of wonder and wondering. Who made these structures? What did they mean to them? And what do they mean to us now?

Author of the bestseller Steeple Chasing and prize-winning A Tomb With A View, Peter Ross journeys from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at Sycamore Gap. Along the way he encounters bog bodies in Dublin, a wooden goddess in Edinburgh and a chalk giant in Dorset. He asks what it is like to live within the great stone circle at Avebury, what rituals occurred in an Anglesey tomb and what draws volunteers to care for the Uffington White Horse.

These objects and structures speak of the long human story. They offer the comfort of recognition and the pleasure of mystery. There is something about ancient places that fills a hollow in our souls.

Upon A White Horse is a celebration of landscape and people – and all that is beautiful, strange and old.

'Ross scores highly on his intuitive interpretations of places and his non-judgemental observations of human nature; he is empathetic, but can stand back' – Country Life

'Ross is a wonderfully evocative writer, deftly capturing a sense of place and history, while bringing a deep humanity to his subject' – Guardian

Bestselling author Peter Ross journeys from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at Sycamore Gap. Along the way he encounters bog bodies in Dublin, a wooden goddess in Edinburgh and a chalk giant in Dorset. He asks what it is like to live within the great stone circle at Avebury, what rituals occurred in an Anglesey tomb and what draws volunteers to care for the Uffington White Horse.

These objects and structures speak of the long human story. They offer the comfort of recognition and the pleasure of mystery. There is something about ancient places that fills a hollow in our souls.

Upon A White Horse is a celebration of landscape and people – and all that is beautiful, strange and old.

PRAISE FOR STEEPLE CHASING:

‘A delicious treat’ – Financial Times

‘A charming odyssey’ – The Times

‘Lovely, lyrical, whimsical, elegiac’ – TLS

‘Engaging’ – New Statesman

‘A wonderful book’ – Daily Telegraph

‘A beautiful book’ – Gabriel Byrne

‘Beautiful and brilliant. I loved it’ – Fergus Butler-Gallie

From the author of A Tomb With a View – Scottish Non-Fiction book of the Year

Churches are all around us. Their steeples remain landmarks in our towns, villages and cities, even as their influence and authority has waned. They contain art and architectural wonders – one huge gallery scattered, like a handful of jewels, across these isles.

Award-winning writer Peter Ross sets out to tell their stories, and through them a story of Britain. Join him as he visits the unassuming Norfolk church which contains a disturbing secret, and London’s mighty cathedrals with their histories of fire and love. Meet cats and bats, monks and druids, angels of oak and steel.

Steeple Chasing, though it sometimes strikes an elegiac note, is a song of praise. It celebrates churches for their beauty and meaning, and for the tales they tell. It is about people as much as place, flesh and bone not just flint and stone. From the painted hells of Surrey to the holy wells of Wales, consider this a travel book . . . with bells on.

Praise for Peter Ross

‘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.’ – The Guardian

‘Fascinating . . . Ross makes a likeably idiosyncratic guide and one finishes the book feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable.’ – The Observer

‘The author’s humanity has acted as a beacon of light in the darkness.’ – The Sunday Times

‘Steeple Chasing is a beautiful and brilliant book; written with such care and deep, abiding interest in its subject matter as to entrance the enthusiast and amateur alike. I loved it.’ – Fergus Butler-Gallie

‘Ross has always had a quiet charm, and it is perhaps displayed best in this book. ‘ – The Scotsman

From the author of A Tomb With a View – Scottish Non-Fiction book of the Year

Churches are all around us. Their steeples remain landmarks in our towns, villages and cities, even as their influence and authority has waned. They contain art and architectural wonders – one huge gallery scattered, like a handful of jewels, across these isles.

Award-winning writer Peter Ross sets out to tell their stories, and through them a story of Britain. Join him as he visits the unassuming Norfolk church which contains a disturbing secret, and London’s mighty cathedrals with their histories of fire and love. Meet cats and bats, monks and druids, angels of oak and steel.

Steeple Chasing, though it sometimes strikes an elegiac note, is a song of praise. It celebrates churches for their beauty and meaning, and for the tales they tell. It is about people as much as place, flesh and bone not just flint and stone. From the painted hells of Surrey to the holy wells of Wales, consider this a travel book . . . with bells on.

Praise for Peter Ross

‘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.’ – The Guardian

‘Fascinating . . . Ross makes a likeably idiosyncratic guide and one finishes the book feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable.’ – The Observer

‘The author’s humanity has acted as a beacon of light in the darkness.’ – The Sunday Times

**A FINANCIAL TIMES, I PAPER AND STYLIST BOOK OF THE YEAR**

‘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

‘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.’ – The Guardian

‘The pages burst with life and anecdote while also examining our relationship with remembrance.’ – Financial Times (best travel books of 2020)

‘Among the year’s most surprising “sleeper” successes is A Tomb with a View. 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.’
– The Sunday Times

‘Fascinating . . . Ross makes a likeably idiosyncratic guide and one finishes the book feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable.’ – The Observer

‘Ross has written [a] lively elegy to Britain’s best burial grounds.’ – Evening Standard (*Best New Books of Autumn 2020*)

‘One of the non-fiction books of the year.’ – The i paper (*2020 Best Books for Christmas*)

‘Brilliant.’ – Stylist (*Best Christmas books for Christmas 2020*)

‘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

‘A walk through the graveyards of Britain guided by one of the most engaging wordsmiths willing to take you by the hand.’ – The Big Issue (*Best Books 2020*)

‘A celebration of life and of love. It confronts our universal fate but tends towards a comforting embrace of mortality. It is also imbued with something deeply moving.’ – The Herald

‘Beautifully written and strangely life affirming.’ – Norman Blake, Teenage Fanclub

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…