In Watling Street John Higgs uses the Roman road from Dover to Anglesey as an opportunity to talk about the history of the areas passed through and his views on England today. He also emphasises popular culture and the arts. I’ve read a few books that do this including Sandi Toksvig’s memoir which follows the route of a London bus (see my review here). I enjoy hearing about the history and characters of our landscape and think that this is a useful way of gathering together seemingly random thoughts.
Some of this book was fascinating and I particularly enjoyed the history elements especially around Bletchley Park, Dover and Canterbury. I was also interested when he talked about national memory and how he sees the country today. The book was written at around the time of Brexit and he addresses the referendum decision in the narrative although I do feel that it is not very linked to the Roman road. I liked the short snippets and the way that he moved the narrative onwards with the journey. It is obvious that the author didn’t travel down the road as one trip and he doesn’t pretend that he did.
The parts of the book that I liked less were where the author concentrated on druids and spiritual links between places and also how many of the characters with whom he interacts are performance artists. There is also one chapter about a science fiction story which I haven’t read and which didn’t seem to be completely relevant. This element of the book doesn’t seem to sit well with the history and the descriptions of the landscape but I think it is the part of the narrative that he most enjoyed writing. It felt like there were really two books here and they didn’t fit well together, for me at least.
This book was a mixture of things linked, occasionally quite nebulously, by the route of the Roman road. The author has thoughts about what it means to be English and also on how we create shared histories which change as our view of the world changes but I don’t think that he really joined this into a coherent narrative. Some of this book was interesting and some was forgettable – I didn’t think that the book as a whole worked for me.
Anne Is Reading 