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Hawksmoor

3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 · rating details · 1,086 ratings · 116 reviews

In the aftermath of the great fire, eighteenth-century London is a city of extremes. Squalor and superstition vie with elegance and reason as brilliant architect, Nicholas Dyer, is commissioned to build seven new churches. They are to stand as beacons of the Enlightenment - but Dyer plans to conceal a dark secret at the heart of each one. Two hundred and fifty years later,...more

Paperback, 217 pages

Published March 25th 1993 by Penguin Books Ltd (first published 1985)

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Aug 19, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone wishing to exercise their ye olde english voice

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list

Shelves: 1001-books, bookcrossing-books, read-in-2010

SUMMARY:
Inspector Morse meets the Time Travellers Wife with a hint of Grand Designs. But without the actual in-plot benefits of inexplicable time travel, a love interest or Kevin McCloud.

THE LONG-WINDED VERSION:
Ah London, the Big Smoke, the Great Wen, the sunken, scum-ridden, grease-spotted, pitted underbelly of the Old World. New York is referred to as the Big Apple, which implies shiny, fresh-ripened juiciness. If London was a fruit it would probably be that odd-looking stinky one that comes...more SUMMARY:
Inspector Morse meets the Time Travellers Wife with a hint of Grand Designs. But without the actual in-plot benefits of inexplicable time travel, a love interest or Kevin McCloud.

THE LONG-WINDED VERSION:
Ah London, the Big Smoke, the Great Wen, the sunken, scum-ridden, grease-spotted, pitted underbelly of the Old World. New York is referred to as the Big Apple, which implies shiny, fresh-ripened juiciness. If London was a fruit it would probably be that odd-looking stinky one that comes from Cambodia, whatsitcalled? Ah the Durian (thanks Google).

Peter Ackroyd knows a lot about London and all of his books revolve around creating diverting Poe-esque tales of ghostly mystery and imagination. Stories which he then dresses with his frankly encyclopaedic knowledge of London's social history and development. There's not a nook, cranny, wient or alley which Ackroyd doesn't know about and that is part of the joy of his writing.

So, two intertwining tale of black magic, murder and devilment set amongst the hallowed cloisters of the greatest churches in London. Evil from the past echoes through the ages (frequently in the format of ye-oldy-worldy English) and the hidden signs and symbols of architect Nicholas Dyer act as a conduit to the future and Detective Nick Hawksmoor who is somewhere in the 20th century trying to clean up modern murders in the same churches. Dyer is based on the 17th century Nicholas Hawksmoor who was a real chap and as the go-to-guy behind Christopher Wren's work was commissioned in 1711 to design 6 churches; St Alfeges, Greenwich; St Georges, Bloomsbury; St Mary Woolnoth, St Georges East Wapping; St Annes at Limehouse and most famously, Christchurch Spitalfields.

Ackroyd has obviously performed a historical switcheroo by naming his modern day protagonist and detective, Nicholas Hawksmoor thus continuing that "echoes through eternity theme". Uh huh, I like what you did there. Obviously there is no real evidence that Hawksmoor was a devil worshipper who cunningly hid satanic squigglings in these churches, however that will not stop a bunch of overwrought historical scholars suggesting such things and cheerfully it was this nonsense which inspired Ackroyd to write what is, in my opinion, a damn fine read. *Applause* for Mr Ackroyd.(less)

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Sep 10, 2010 Derek Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: to anyone who likes an edge of darkness in superb writing

This tale of the merged identities of a 17th century London architect and a contemporary police detective is wracked with darkness and terror. Few novels have ever had such a smashing impact on me, leaving me close to collapse. Magnificent style by Ackroyd (as always) but not offset by his often too-cleverness. It won major awards, then seems to have been largely forgotten. Come on, lads, lets not let it get away.

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Mar 11, 2013 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: The esoteric, recondite and abstruse

Recommended to Alan by: William Gibson, via io9

William Gibson says of this novel (among others, via io9.com), "The books I most love and admire, it's because I could never have written them. They open my head as my own work can't. Offhand, Womack's Random Acts, Crowley's "Great Work of Time", Ackroyd's Hawksmoor... A few minutes later, three others."

As I had already read the other two books Gibson mentions, and admired them both greatly, it remained for me to pick up the third.

Hawksmoor is... a very odd book, though...

And how does it feel to

...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 4 of 5 stars

If this was a movie, this is what most likely what your experience of watching it will be.

It opens with a dark, ancient-looking world, so you begin with a quiver of excitement. Actually, it'll be London, in the early 18th century. The characters, and the way they speak, look and sound queer (on paper, its a very old english with lots of weird spellings and words with their first letters capitalized, like : "There is no Light without Darknesse and no Substance without Shaddowe..."). Sort of where...more

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May 23, 2010 Anaelenaglez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historic-fiction

Described as "a poet's novel", Hawksmoor is a daring, uncompromising experiment in narrative time. Inspired in Iain Sinclair's Lud Heat (1975), it fulfills the psychogeographical premise that places are imbued with a certain energy, and buildings, such as the Hawksmoor churches in London, are shrines to the particular design of the architect, scripts which are destined to be reenacted again and again throughout history. A fascinating play on the theme of the double and parallel worlds, Hawksmoor...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Helen Kitson added it

Shelves: fiction

"This mundus tenebrosus, this shaddowy world of Mankind, is sunk into Night; there is not a Field without its Spirits, nor a City without its Daemons, and the Lunaticks speak Prophesies while the Wise men fall into the Pitte. We are all in the Dark, one with another. And, as the Inke stains the Paper on which it is spilt and slowly spreads to Blot out the Characters, so the Contagion of darkness and malefaction grows apace until all becomes unrecognizable."

In 1711, Nicholas Dyer is commissioned...more "This mundus tenebrosus, this shaddowy world of Mankind, is sunk into Night; there is not a Field without its Spirits, nor a City without its Daemons, and the Lunaticks speak Prophesies while the Wise men fall into the Pitte. We are all in the Dark, one with another. And, as the Inke stains the Paper on which it is spilt and slowly spreads to Blot out the Characters, so the Contagion of darkness and malefaction grows apace until all becomes unrecognizable."

In 1711, Nicholas Dyer is commissioned to design seven new churches in London. Orphaned when his parents died from Plague, the young Nicholas is taken up by the mysterious Mirabilis. Dyer's religion is demonic and bloody (to Mirabilis, he first introduces himself as 'Faustus'). Dyer believes that God wants blood and that each of his seven churches must have a human sacrifice.

The novel alternates between 18th century London and 20th century London. The past seems to spill into the present and the chapters slide easily and seamlessly between the past and the present.

The 20th century Hawksmoor is a detective investigating a series of murders around London. Each murder corresponds to an 18th century one. All are committed within the grounds of one of the seven new churches. Every main character in the 20th century narrative has his or her 'twin' in the 18th century thread. Thus Dyer's assistant is Walter Pyne, and Hawksmoor's is Sgt Walter Payne. Dyer's near neighbour is Mrs Best; Hawksmoor's is Mrs West. Thomas Hill is both the son of the mason who falls to his death at Spitalfields after the church was built there, and also the first victim of the serial killer in the 20th century narrative.

Finally, Hawksmoor begins to crack up. Unable to solve the case, he's taken off it. The personalities of Dyer and Hawksmoor seem to merge in a world where time is of no account and fluid. They come together at last in the last and finest of the churches, Little St Hugh, a place that does not exist, where the two identities finally merge.

This is a disturbing, dense novel about the impact of the past upon the present and upon the nature of time itself. Most of all, perhaps, it's a novel about alienation - from the self, and from society. [Sept 2005](less)

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Apr 20, 2013 Fred rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pringle-100-fa

This is the first book I've read by Peter Ackroyd, and it will not be the last. This is a fantastic work, strangely reminding me of an elevated Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. (they take place in a similar time span). This book is denser than Quicksilver of course, and will prove to many readers to be a difficult read in the beginning. With perseverance comes revelation, as the murder mystery tale comes to fruition.
Brief synopsis: Nicholas Dyer designs six churches for the city of London. He i...more

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Jan 17, 2011 F.R. rated it 4 of 5 stars

One has to admire Peter Ackroyd for not following the easy path. A book which has devil worship, murder and old London landmarks seems almost tailor-made for the Dan Brown crowd (okay, this was published long before Brown became a sensation, but on paper it would look a dream for any PR department), but then he goes and writes the first chapter – and, indeed, every odd numbered chapter – in daunting 1700’s English. “And so let us beginne, and, as the Fabrick takes its Shape in front of you, alwa...more One has to admire Peter Ackroyd for not following the easy path. A book which has devil worship, murder and old London landmarks seems almost tailor-made for the Dan Brown crowd (okay, this was published long before Brown became a sensation, but on paper it would look a dream for any PR department), but then he goes and writes the first chapter – and, indeed, every odd numbered chapter – in daunting 1700’s English. “And so let us beginne, and, as the Fabrick takes its Shape in front of you, always keep the structure intierely in mind as you inscribe it.” It’s an excellent read once you get into it; but one can imagine there were a lot of people in 1985 looking for a good thriller for the train, who were excited by the blurb, but scared to death by the opening page. So hats off to Ackroyd, I say! You wouldn’t want it all the time, but it’s good for an author to sometimes make things difficult for his readers.

Nicholas Dyer is an assistant to Christopher Wren, working on six new London Churches in the reign of Queen Anne. He is not, however, the man he appears to be, and gradually his compulsions emerge and murder seems unavoidable. Meanwhile, in Twentieth Century London, police detective Nicholas Hawksmoor is investigating a series of murders committed at Dyer’s churches. Murders which, although he doesn’t know it, have strong echoes of the past.

(I’m evidently a dunce when it comes to architecture by the way. Otherwise I’d have known, before my Google search, that the name of Christopher Wren’s assistant who worked on these churches was actually Nicholas Hawksmoor.)

The way the two narratives weave together is superbly done, with rhymes, phrases, sensations and character names echoing through the two time periods. (Stonehenge is placed expertly into both the 18th and 20th century segments. Wren’s and Dyer’s visit to the monument is particularly brilliant.) There’s a creepy atmosphere built gradually throughout, so that even though the ending is slightly anticlimactic, one still turns the final page with a chill.(less)

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May 28, 2010 Architeacher rated it 5 of 5 stars

As an architectural historian, Ackroyd's play with real characters and actual places is especially intriguing. The real 18th century architect Nicholas Hawksmoor becomes the fictitious Nicholas Dyer, heavily involved with the occult. Hawksmoor the architect (a favorite of mine and always on my "top ten" whose works are high on my bucket list of must see buildings) designed six London churches. Ackroyd has the fictional Dyer designing seven churches, the last one of which was conjured in my imagi...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Steffi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: london

Auf zwei Zeitebenen erzählt Ackroyd die Geschichte a) des Baus von sieben Londoner Kirchen durch den Architekten Dyer, der mit seinen Bauwerken einem dunklen Gott huldigt (Vorbild der ersten sechs Kirchen von Hawksmoor); b) der Ermittlungen des Detectives Hawksmoor(!), der 250 Jahre später mit Morden an genau diesen Kirchen befasst ist. Die Ebenen spiegeln einander, allerdings nie eins zu eins. Oft ist es nur ein Satz, der einer anderen Person in den Mund gelegt wird. Erhellend ist aber zum Beis...more

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May 24, 2012 Sarahlizp rated it 3 of 5 stars

So the blurb on the back of the book had almost zero to do with the plot, which involves the Plague and the Great Fire of London, and an 18th century Satan-worshiping church builder who sacrifices children, and mysterious present day murders at those churches which may or may not be being perpetrated by a ghost... it's a deeply weird book. It's also one of those books that was clearly written for other writers. He's put together the narrative like a piece of old-fashioned clockwork, and it's bre...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

On of my favorite novels ever, I am myself surprised it took me this long to get around to reviewing it here. Ackroyd tells the dark tale of a police detective investigating satanic murders but also includes a look into the historical realm of the church designs of architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, but with ample twists and turns at every corner. Seldom do you encounter a more gripping, dark, and engrossing story and never have I found a detective novel—if we wish to call this work of literature suc...more

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Sep 15, 2010 Djrmel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, horror, mystery, z2010-read

Not an easy read, but one that is worth the trouble. Rather than bring early 1700 London to the reader (as most HF fiction writers do), we are taken back through his use of historically correct English. Nicholas Dyer is at work, designing and supervising six new churches as directed by Parliment. Dyer's personal religious convictions fall far outside of what is expected of someone given such a commision, but he finds a way to balance private with public. Meanwhile, back in our time period, some...more

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Mar 07, 2011 Sue marked it as worth-trying-again-someday · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I simply got stuck in this book and I'm not sure how much was me and how much was the book. Parts were interesting but parts seemed so labored. I really wanted to like it. Oh well. I may try this again in a few months and see if it hits me any differently. Til then, there are so many other things I want to read.

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Jun 14, 2009 Catherine Siemann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've been reading this book for awhile; while I'm admiring it immensely, I can't say I love it, and I kept setting it aside for more diverting or more urgent reading. Ackroyd does an amazing job of recreating early 18th-century writing, in the sections narrated by Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Sir Christopher Wren and architect of a number of London churches. (For some reason, the historical architect Hawksmoor is called Dyer here and there's a 20th century detective called Hawksmoor instead). The...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Anya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: university

It seems like such a good idea, two timeline's interweaving, kind of a crime novel crossed with something like The Time Traveller's Wife with a bit of obscure Satanism thrown in for good measure. But, and I'm not sure if this was Ackroyd's intentions, it doesn't quite come off like that. In reality, or whatever world Ackroyd is writing about, it comes across as a split-personality disorder across the centuries. Don't get me wrong, for the right audience, it is completely worth digging through th...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Amerynth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, crime, fiction, london, read-2013, time

I was mostly just disappointed by Peter Ackroyd's [Hawksmoor] which is more or less billed as a detective story (though the detective doesn't actually appear until halfway through the book.) It's really a story about time.... and frankly, I wish I had the time I struggled through reading it back.

I did admire Ackroyd's voice in the story -- as he wrote in a sort of old English dialect and portrayed 18th century London. But that was really all I liked about the book.

I felt like Ackroyd was really...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: london

Brilliant, dark and brooding, this is one that will leave you a little jumpy and nervous about shadows. Peter Ackroyd effortlessly brings his vast knowledge of London to bear in a tale told partly in the present, and partly in a time when London was betwixt superstition and enlightenment, emerging from years of plague and the great fire to be rebuilt. The language is beautiful and develops atmosphere like a fog in its switches from present to 18th century (so ridiculously hard to do well), the p...more

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May 04, 2012 Arthur rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

It's been a long time since I read this, but I remember the impact it had on me clearly. I live and work in London and know well many of the streets and buildings on which the novel is based. You can't live in a place that has so much history and not wonder about the lives and events that preceding generations experienced there. Ackroyd takes this wonder and weaves an intricate story linking the past, present, concepts of evil around the real buildings that Hawksmoor created. I read this on a ve...more

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Jun 25, 2010 Kristel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hawksmoor was an architect who built the churches mentioned in the novel by Peter Ackroyd in his novel Hawksmoor (1985). In this, the historical Hawksmoor is refigured as the fictional Devil-worshiper Nicholas Dyer, while the eponymous Hawksmoor is cast as a twentieth-century detective charged with investigating a series of murders perpetrated on Dyer's (Hawksmoor's) churches. The novel is arguably a good example of magic realism.
to see the six churches;http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cat...

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Apr 18, 2013 Johanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting premise but a tough read. Another postmodern playing with time book. The two parallel stories are a 1980's murder investigation and the activities of an 18th century architect; Nicholas Dyer (broadly based on Hawksmoor the architect behind a number of post Great Fire London churches). The parallels between the two stories develop as the novel progresses. Whilst the writing is good the neither story grabbed me and overall the book left me feeling a little irritated. My conclusion is t...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Nickboyd rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wasn't crazy about Hawksmoor. The style of the Dyer passages (every other chapter) is realy technically impressive, and is almost certainly the highlight of the novel - stylistically, Ackroyd seems to pretty authentically recreate a 300-year-old voice. However, even then there were notes which didn't quite seem right - it sometimes feels like Dyer is being seen through the lens of the Romantic movement.

The passages dealing with the modern-day detective, Hawksmoor, are much more disappointing....more

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Feb 18, 2012 Isabel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Set in an alternate version of the East End, where the early 18th century churches that were built by Nicholas Hawksmoor in our reality, were built by Nicholas Dyer and Nicholas Hawksmoor is the name of a late 20th century policeman investigating a series of murders occurring at these churches. Echoes of the earlier era resonate through the later time, some believable like the playground rhymes and superstitions having been passed down almost unchanged for 250 years, but most having a more super...more Set in an alternate version of the East End, where the early 18th century churches that were built by Nicholas Hawksmoor in our reality, were built by Nicholas Dyer and Nicholas Hawksmoor is the name of a late 20th century policeman investigating a series of murders occurring at these churches. Echoes of the earlier era resonate through the later time, some believable like the playground rhymes and superstitions having been passed down almost unchanged for 250 years, but most having a more supernatural edge. Nicholas Dyer's assistant is called Walter Pyne and his intrusive landlady is Mrs Best, while Nicholas Hawksmoor's assistant is Walter Payne and Mrs West is just as intrusive as her predecessor. The murder victims are strangely similar to Dyer's earlier sacrifices, and not because the murderer is selecting similar victims; it seems as if reincarnations of the original victims are fated to die in the same place as before. The feeling of deja-vous is reinforced by snatches of conversation being repeated.

I found the ending of the book disappointing as it was increasingly hard to work out what was going on. Dyer had seen his own doppelganger and had what was obviously a vision of Hawksmoor while delerious, before they took their last walk through London to Little St Hugh's where they finally became aware of the other's presence. And when they finally sat beside each other in the church and spoke with one voice, I assume that they were becoming aware of the cyclical nature of time, forever condemned to repeat themselves.

Was Dyer going to offer himself as the sacrifice for the church of Little St. Hugh? And was Hawksmoor going to commit suicide in the same church, or was the murderer going to kill him? I'm not even sure whether there was a real murderer or whether it was all done by Nicholas Dyer from beyond the grave (since the police never found any fingerprints or physical evidence). And when they finally sat beside each other in the church and spoke the same words I assume they became aware of the cyclical nature of time, with events forever repeating themselves.

There are plot holes. In real life, someone would have informed the police of the link between the churches where the murders were happening (unless Nicholas Dyer is considerably less famous than the real architect Nicholas Hawksmoor) or a journalist would have made the link and written a sensationalist article about it. Hawksmoor's disintegrating mental health was obvious to all his colleagues and I'm sure that he would have been given counselling earlier rather than being allowed to spiral downwards into depression with the investigation going to wrack and ruin.

I did enjoy it, but I would have liked a clearer ending. I had to read the last couple of chapters again as I got so mixed up while trying to write this review.(less)

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Nov 30, 2011 Mikela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-list, books-read-in-2011, 1900s

The book begins in the early 18th century with Nicholas Dyer, an architect under Christopher Wren, who was in charge of building seven churches in the city of London. In each church he buried a horrible secret. Next chapter jumps to the 1980’s and introduces us to Detective Nicholas Hawksmoor who is the lead inspector trying to solve the recent murders at each of these churches. Ackroyd then alternates each chapter between the two times and main characters. Are you confused yet? Just to add a to...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Originally published in 1985, this novel won the Whitbread Book Award and Guardian Fiction Prize in that year. It is very different book and I thoroughly enjoyed it due to this and the evocative descriptions and moody atmospheric landscape of early London. Peter Ackroyd (b1949) is also a poet and the lovely use of words makes this a joy to read although the plot is completely the antithesis of joy. The plot is disturbing but has engendered a desire to actually go and see the churches that are m...more

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Dec 24, 2010 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: one-penny-wonder, published-1985, winter-20102011, mystery-thriller, historical-fiction, boo-scary, britain-england, architecture, plague-disease

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 20, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of Peter Ackroyd; anyone interested in London

Recommended to Nancy by: amazon

People merging into one over time & space is sort of an Ackroyd trademark (I give you House of Dr. Dee as another example). I happen to enjoy Ackroyd's fiction, and this one caught me right away. The blurb on my book advertises it as a "novel of detection," which it sort of is, but that's not the long and short of it. Set in London, in two very different times, once again, Ackroyd manages to make this city one of the book's leading characters.

The main character in the 18th-century London is...more People merging into one over time & space is sort of an Ackroyd trademark (I give you House of Dr. Dee as another example). I happen to enjoy Ackroyd's fiction, and this one caught me right away. The blurb on my book advertises it as a "novel of detection," which it sort of is, but that's not the long and short of it. Set in London, in two very different times, once again, Ackroyd manages to make this city one of the book's leading characters.

The main character in the 18th-century London is Nicholas Dyer, who hides a secret: as a young boy, roaming the streets, he is taken in by a strange man named Mirabilis, who guides Dyer's destiny toward architecture. Dyer eventually becomes apprenticed to an architect, and then is granted the opportunity to work under the supervision of Sir Christopher Wren. His main job is supervising the rebuilding of the old churches in London. Every fearful that his secret will be exposed (I won't tell you what it is here), Dyer has a mission and will not let anyone get in the way. The main character in the present is one Nicholas Hawksmoor, a detective who is currently investigating a series of strange murders, each one occurring at a different church in London. The story of Dyer and the story of Hawksmoor begin to blend as Hawksmoor tries to figure out just who is doing these murders and why. However, as I noted earlier, the "detection" is not so much the focus of the story, so if you're looking for a mystery novel with a satisfying conclusion, don't be looking here!

As an aside, I did a bit of research on this book after I finished and found out an interesting tidbit of information, which sort of clicked everything together for me and made me do an "aha" once I'd read it. I'll share it with you here, but you have to make the choice to go look or to wait until you've finished the book: to peek or not peek, that is the question

This book is not for anyone who wants a quick read, or who does not want to think about what he or she is reading. I had a map in my hand of London, past & present, and switching thought modes from London past to London present was a little disconcerting at times. But overall, if you want to read a fine piece of literature, I can recommend this one wholeheartedly.(less)

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Sep 19, 2012 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-books

Never less than interesting, but did not pack quite the sinister punch I was hoping for. Nicholas Dyer is an architect commissioned to build churches in London as the city rights itself after the Fire of 1666.
He conceals dark symbolism and occult messages within the construction, sealing each with a murder on site. Hawksmoor is a modern police detective investigating homicides at the same churches in the late 20th century. Dyer's archaic language and rampant paranoia are pitch perfect as is Hawk...more

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May 28, 2011 Vasha7 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quite excellent. The evocation of atmosphere is fine, the ideas are subtly presented, and the author does a remarkably fine job of creating 17th-century language. This story walks a razor's edge between "subtle" and "obscure", but stays on the right side; I didn't fully appreciate it until a second reading, but the first reading was gripping nonetheless. Admittedly, Ackroyd's misanthropy can be unpleasant (as I've found from his other books), but it's part of the power of Hawksmoor.

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Sep 07, 2012 Nikki rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory, mystery, crime, horror

You wouldn't think that an old-fashioned way of writing, as in the odd-numbered chapters of this book, could put me off. I mean, I've learnt Anglo-Saxon and Old Icelandic, and Middle English is easier for me than a post-modern novel. Oddly enough, though, this has been called a post-modern novel (though the author, apparently, somewhat disagrees), so maybe that's why.

Actually, though I found those sections off-putting, I found them better written and more interesting than the modern sections. I'...more

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About Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.

Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age...more

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Quotes from Hawksmoor

“He stood beneath the white tower, and looked up at it with that mournful expression which his face always carried in repose: for one moment he thought of climbing up its cracked and broken stone, and then from its summit screaming down at the silent city as a child might scream at a chained animal.” — 4 people liked it

“I have liv'd long enough for others, like the Dog in the Wheel, and it is now the Season to begin for myself: I cannot change that Thing call'd Time, but I can alter its Posture and, as Boys do turn a looking-glass against the Sunne, so I will dazzle you all.” — 3 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67729.Hawksmoor?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347482192l/67729.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67729.Hawksmoor?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd[/url]

Hawksmoor

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