To Dream of the Dead

Merrily Watkins, Book 10

By: Phil Rickman

Narrated by: Emma Powell

December, and the river is rising. The village of Ledwardine has never been flooded in living memory. Within days it will be an island. There's no electricity. The church is serving as a temporary mortuary for two people who drowned. Only one man feels safer. An aggressively-atheist author has been moved, for his own safety, Rushdie-style, into a secluded house just outside the village. Fundamentalist Christians have hated him for years. Now he's offended the Muslims. Bad move.

Meanwhile, archaeologists, assisted by Merrily's teenage daughter, Jane, are at work in Coleman's Meadow, unearthing an ancient row of standing stones which some people would rather stay buried. The atheist's temporary home is close to the site, and his young wife is becoming conspicuously agitated. Is it the fear of discovery – or the kind of fear that she, of all people, could never disclose? One thing is clear – the last person who's going to be welcome in that house is an exorcist.

With the flood water washing up Church Lane towards the vicarage and the shop running out of cigarettes, it looks like a cold and complex Christmas for Merrily Watkins in an ancient community forced to untangle its own history against the swirling uncertainty of the future.

©2008 Phil Rickman (P)2009 Isis Audio

Critic reviews

"A national treasure." (Daily Mail)

"Rickman is an excellent writer, terrific on atmosphere." (The Times)

"Credible characters...and absorbing archaeological lore are a plus." (Publishers Weekly)

Awesome, very fast paced, exciting!

Gotta say, I finished this Merrily Watkins a-book in 2 days, the fastest ever for this particular Rickman series!

Warning: this is NOT a new book.

When I saw there was a new Merrily Watkins book from Phil Rickman, I immediately spent a credit on it. As I listened, it began to seem familiar, and then I realized it was already in my library. They've apparently re-released the existing recording. I wish Audible would figure out how to match up earlier and newer issues of the identical book so items like this would show up as already in your library if, in fact, they are. Fortunately I was able to return it.

All that said, I continue to enjoy the series.