So, what do you think about The Wake?

[James]

Once you get your lips around the glorious Anglo-Saxon tongue (which is no more challenging than getting to grips with Parseltongue, or that vernacular Scottish in Trainspotting) this book reveals itself as a filth-smeared, historical THRILLER, and a fantastically imagined one which blew my tiny mind. Made me very glad I was reading this from the comfort of a plush armchair, in a centrally heated room with a chocolate biscuit, cup of Yorkshire Gold tea and pasteurised milk; rather than covered in mulch in a freezing ditch in 1067 AD. Paul Kingsnorth is a pretty decent journalist too from what I've read, but he has just increased his stature from grubby hack to literary titan. If you don't love this I'll eat my own poorly constructed farming implements.