Catharine Arnold read English at Cambridge and holds a further degree in psychology. A journalist, academic and popular historian, Catharine's previous books include the novel "Lost Time", winner of a Betty Trask award. Her London quartet for Simon & Schuster comprises of "Necropolis: London and Its Dead", "Bedlam, London and Its Mad", "City of Sin, London and Its Vices" and "Underworld London, Crime and Punishment in the Capital City".
'London seems to be one huge charnel house, a veritable lasagne of corpses, and at times in the city's history they have threatened to overwhelm the living with their demands for psychic and physical space. Catharine Arnold explores this complex interplay between the two states in her grimly entertaining survey of death rituals, mourning and the practicalities of disposal...abounds in deliciously uncanny detail. Why are mourning clothes traditionally black? The fearful Romans believed that black rendered mourners invisible to vengeful spirits' Suzi Feay, Independent on Sunday 'There has always been a certain relish in recounting the decay of flesh. Funeral processions were often highly theatrical affairs, with all the pomp of a tribute to King Death and all the pantomime of excessive mourning. That is why NECROPOLIS is deeply pleasing: it satisfies the desire for wayward knowledge, being a compendium of death in all its forms while at the same time providing entertainment of the most garish and exquisite kind...if you wish to go on a pilgrimage down these gravel paths and among these white sepulchres, this book should be your guide. It is a Baedeker of the dead' PETER ACKROYD, The Times 29/4 (front cover of books section) 'The capital is the last resting place of an awful lot of dead people. So many in fact that the Piccadilly Line between Knightsbridge and South Kensington had to be rerouted when the tunnelling equipment proved unable to drill through the dense throng of skeletons lying beneath Rotten Row' Sunday Telegraph 30/4 'Nowadays, when the past is considered an unpleasant irrelevance and old age something that happens to the poor and careless, a book such as NECROPOLIS: LONDON AND ITS DEAD has a salutary reality' Evening Standard 24/4 'Where Arnold's account really beguiles is in its eccentric social detail, from the various mourning fashions advertised in periodicals in the late Victorian age to the medical consultant Francis Seymour Haden's enthusiasm for wickerwork caskets -- a forerunner of today's 'green' funerals...throughout, Arnold's tone is enthusiastic, good-humoured and constantly engaging' Daily Telegraph 6/5 'This book allows a fascinating ramble through the cadavers of London's history, with the irresistible draw of finding out more about what lies under our pavements' Financial Times 13/5 'A whole lot of cadaver, but Arnold's dense work makes a trusty , inexhaustible go-to guide' Time Out 'In truth, I've always liked reading in the opposite direction...I'm off to New York in a few weeks, so perhaps I'll take NECROPOLIS, Catharine Arnold's book about London cemeteries...' Erica Wagner, summer reading recommends, The Times 'An elegant saunter through the land of the dead...stories of resurrection men exhuming fresh cadavers for anatomists; dredger men looting bodies pulled out of the Thames; and the London Monster, a serial killer centuries before the term was coined, who was duly punished after his suicide by being buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart' - GUARDIAN 19/8 'Arnold's anecdotal survey of the ways in which the city has dealt with mortality is curiously uplifting. Whether unearthing forgotten plans to build a giant, pyramidal mausoleum on Primrose Hill, recounting tales of the assorted plagues that have struck the city or describing the elaborate funereal customs of the 19th century, she reminds readers just how much today's London has been shaped by the numerous generations of dearly departed' Sunday Times 25/2 'The living are numerically insignificant compared with the dead; Catharine Arnold's account of London's treatment of its late inhabitants brings home that fact with affecting clarity...her book is packed with fascinating trivia, too, but it is as much an intriguing history of the living as it is of the dead' Telegraph 24/2 'This fascinating account of London's dead, or rather how the living cope with them, moves from Roman ritual to the great Victorian cemeteries. We learn that the owners of private graveyards have filled their pockets and lots several times over and discover the secrets of the body snatchers. London is almost one huge cemetery with tube lines bending to accommodate the dead and parks resting on plague pits' Waterstones Book Quarterly April issue It may not be the cheeriest of topics, but Arnold writes exquisitely, with a respectful and assured style that makes descriptions of 16th-century plague pits seem vital and relevant, and never dismisses the personal tragedies behind the numbers of dead. And it is strangely comforting, in this city of immigrants and new arrivals, to think of the generations, of so many ancestors lying beneath our train stations, churches and concert halls a we go about our business' Guardian 17/3 'Catharine Arnold's lively stiff survey is good on the Black Death and great on the Victorian age' The Scotsman 10/3 'Arnold disinters many fascinating anecdotes and facts. Despite his lavish funeral, Cromwell's body was dug up after the Restoration and left to swing from a gibbet. His skull was put on a pole outside Westminster Hall, where it stayed for 20 years...Arnold tells these and other sepulchral stories. She has a particular sympathy for cemeteries such as Highgate, "full of hidden beauty and eccentricity, a haven from the strange disease of modern life"' The Times 3/3 'Ever sat on the Piccadilly line wondering why it takes such an age to get from South Kensington to Knightsbridge? Corpses. Thousands of them, stashed during the plague beneath Rotten Row...Catharine Arnold's lively stiff survey is good on the Black Death and great on the Victorian age...' Evening Standard 26/2 'Confirms the phrase that no one in London is more than a foot from a corpse' Daily Express 2/3 'Arnold's anecdotal survey of the ways in which the city has dealt with mortality is curiously uplifting. Whether unearthing forgotten plans to build a giant, pyramidal mausoleum on Primrose Hill, recounting tales of the assorted plagues that have struck the city or describing the elaborate funereal customs of the 19th century, she reminds readers just how much today's London has been shaped by the numerous generations of dearly departed' Sunday Times 25/2 'The living are numerically insignificant compared with the dead; Catharine Arnold's account of London's treatment of its late inhabitants brings home that fact with affecting clarity...her book is packed with fascinating trivia, too, but it is as much an intriguing history of the living as it is of the dead' Telegraph 24/2 SPEAKING FOR ENGLAND by David Faber 'Mountaineer, adventurer, intelligence officer, Leo Amery led an exciting life even before he was appointed colonial secretary by Baldwin...but his elder son was a psychopath who tried to poison his baby brother. His sexual perversions shocked even his prostitute wife...Thoroughly researched and judiciously written, this is 20th century history with a Shakespearean twist' Telegraph 24/2 News feature on space in graveyards 'No cause for grave concern' Express 11/6 'From burial mounds to charnel houses, the capital's first crematorium to East End memorials, Catharine Arnold's account of death in London is by turns fascinating, stomach-churning and poignant. She is especially good on the over-the-top Victorian funeral business' The Ten Best History Books, Independent 27/1
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
