Scarweather by Anthony Rolls (Colwyn Edward Vulliamy) was first published in 1934 but it has been reprinted by British Library. This is the book which I took with me on holiday to Orkney recently, not knowing anything about it so it felt a wee bit spooky when it turned out that archaeology and an ancient burial mound featured in the plot, as I was visiting neolithic burial sites in Orkney. It’s amazing how often I inadvertently take books with me on holiday that relate to my destination in some way.

Unusually the story takes place over 15 years or so, beginning just before the First World War. John Farringdale accompanied by his cousin Eric Foster goes to visit Tolgen Reisby, a famous archaeologist at his remote home Scarweather in the north of England. Reisby’s wife is years younger than him and they seem rather mismatched. Eric is obviously attracted to her, she’s described as having ‘a magnificent figure and stately carriage’ and that description is part of the problem for me with this book. I just didn’t enjoy the author’s writing style which seemed very stilted to me, perhaps it was supposed to be. I also found the whole thing to be very predictable. I don’t think I will bother reading any others by this author.

Luckily my holiday in Orkney was much mmore enjoyable!