If you love wandering around old cemeteries, reading the inscriptions and thinking about the people from the past, then this book is for you. If you love reading quirky travel adventures and learning about eccentric bits of history, this book is also for you. I really enjoyed it and already know it’s one of my top reads this year.
For almost a month and covering nearly 2000 miles, Jack Cooke drives around Britain in an old hearse, which he sometimes sleeps in. He visits a variety of tombs, memorials, burial sites and less conventional places of rest. He meets some unusual people – some living, some not. I admired his inquisitive spirit and slightly macabre sense of humour. The writing style is brilliant and exactly the kind of prose I like to read. A mixture of travel writing, nature writing, memoir and history, there is never a dull moment. I think that if a younger, more upbeat Bill Bryson was happy to travel Britain while using a hearse as a mobile home, this is the kind of book we’d get. There are a few black and white photographs, but I wouldn’t mind if there were no pictures at all, because the descriptions are enough.
Thank you to HarperCollins for the advance copy via NetGalley. The End of the Road will be published on February 18th.
Note: the author kindly answered my question about when he took the trip – it was 2018, well before the pandemic!
This seems like a fun and slightly whimsical read! Great review π
It is indeed fun and whimsical! Also informative and thought-provoking. Thank you π
Wow, this sounds right up my alley. I love the cover too. Great review!
I hope this book gets lots of readers π Yes the cover is wonderful. Thank you!
I think I’d really enjoy this one, I’ll add it to my list π great review as always π
Yay for adding to your list π Really hope you enjoy if you get it.
I want to read this now!!! This sounds like a book that Iβd love! But wait, why a hearse? Is there a reason behind it?
It’s a great book, really thoughtful, witty and interesting. I don’t know why a hearse, I suppose it ties into the theme. It was quite an old one which was almost ready for scrap.
I canβt find the book on amazon π₯
Well maybe it will be on there later. No harm adding it to your TB π