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Finding the Plot

100 Graves to Visit Before You Die

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Finding the Plot

By: Ann Treneman
Narrated by: Lucy Paterson
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About this listen

Completely off-the-wall, It's a Plot is a fascinating geographical and historical journey around Britain. The Tibetans have the Book of the Dead. This is Ann Treneman's Book of the Dead Interesting. The Times writer, best known for her hilarious parliamentary sketches, has branched out - to graveyards.

In this riveting book - part travelogue, part biography, part social history - she takes you to the best graves in Britain. You'll meet the real War Horse, the best funambulist ever, Byron and his dog Boatswain, prime ministers, queens and kings, Florence Nightingale and her pet baby owl Athena, highwaymen, scientists, mistresses, the real James Bond and, of course, M. Then there are writers, painters, poets, rakes and rogues, victims, the meek and mild - and the just plain mad.

This unique book is made up of 100 entries, each telling the story of one or more graves. Some of the graves are chosen for who is in them, others for the grave itself. Some of the entries are humorous, some are poignant, but all tell us something about the British way of death. At times absurd, at times astounding, in It's a Plot, Ann Treneman proves an excellent guide to the Anglo-Saxon underworld!

©2013 Ann Treneman (P)2013 Audible Ltd Environment Europe Science Witty

Editor reviews

Ann Treneman, Political sketch writer for the Times, spent about four years doing what she’s termed "graveing". She traveled around Britain asking people what their favorite graves are, tracking down the most interesting dead people and the most iconic, historical, and architectural graves. She found that "people with interesting graves were exactly that themselves". Trying to keep this strange travel guide fun, she stayed away from recent graves and murder victims, using the monuments to embrace life, not death. Lucy Patterson performs the audiobook with a smile and a wink at the conceivably morbid subject matter that makes one imagine a wry sort of Miss Marple investigating the "plots" of Britain.
All stars
Most relevant
the narrator is terrible (seriously could not be worse, it's she reading it for the first time?) and the actual information value of the book negligible with lots of banal comments and irrelevant segues. that said, this book is one of my favourites to fall asleep to

terrible all round but good soporific

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A bit left field but this is an amazing book. The Hardy Tree and Lord Sutch's final resting place on my to do list, as is a trip to Westminster Abbey.

Not macabre at all,but a celebration of people's lives

Loved this Book

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My only niggle was a couple of mistakes including the pronunciation of Haworth (bronte country)

I loved the history surrounding those within the graves.

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What made the experience of listening to Finding the Plot the most enjoyable?

Loved it. History and humour in one book.It is not so much a story as a monologue.

What other book might you compare Finding the Plot to, and why?

None, it is unique.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

All of them.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Dead Good

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After the first couple of repetitive chapters, the main interest in this book lay in wondering what the narrator would mispronounce next - the literary executor who sounded as though he was chopping off heads; posthumous with the break after the s (pos-thumous) were among my favourites from a crowded field. A small vocabulary might be forgiven, but for someone exacting a fee for reading about people not to learn how to pronounce their names - poor Jenny Uglow and Una Troubridge - is beyond the pale. Mind you the writer (and editor) weren't too exacting about getting facts correct - cassowaries extinct indeed! interesting material but badly presented.

Interesting but badly presented

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