Echolands

'An engaged, informed companion for the armchair time traveller...captures the thrill and the difficulties of interpreting the past'. TLS 'Duncan has written a masterpiece - a journey and an investigation that fuses landscape and history, chasing the echoes of Boudica's rebellion and finding its physical traces that still surround us today.' Nicholas Crane 'A brilliant imagining of the past. Mackay's knowledge is profound, but lightly worn, his writing elegant and witty, and his enthusiasm infectious. A joy to read.' Dr Harry Sidebottom, University of Oxford, author or THE MAD EMPEROR 'Mackay's journey into the past is hugely enjoyable.' BBC History Magazine 'The places that Mackay visits, traverses and dwells in are vividly described as a conscious attempt to revive the past... there are real moments of joy and insight.' History Today Almost 2000 years ago, Boudica led the greatest rebellion Britain has ever seen. Within the space of a single blood-soaked year, she united the tribes to deliver blow after devastating blow to the Roman regime, culminating in a brutal, decisive battle. Archaeologist Duncan Mackay has spent a lifetime on the trail of Boudica. Beginning near his home in Norfolk, in the heart of Boudica's tribal territory, he embarks on a journey in the footsteps of Romans and Britons, exploring their villages, towns, forts and roads. The passage of two millennia has buried the world that Boudica knew, but Duncan finds that its echoes and physical traces still surround us - as long as you know where to look. The armies marched along the roads we still use, and died in their thousands in towns, cities and countryside where we still live today. The site of Boudica's last battle was long believed be lost to time, but the threads of the story all pull towards one remarkable, forgotten little corner of the English landscape. From the Breckland of Norfolk to the back streets of Colchester, from the remotest corner of Anglesey to the depths of the London Underground, Duncan takes us back two thousand years to retell the story of Britain's bloodiest year. Fusing ancient history, modern excavation, landscape exploration, and vivid reconstruction, Echolands weaves the long-lost tapestry of Boudica's war.