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Reviews for Ready, Steady, Dig!

Cornwall Today, April 2009:

Set in the Cotswolds, this book follows the story of a recently discovered archaeology site that houses a group of "Lares" - small stone figurines left behind 1,600 years ago to guard the site. When the arrival of a reality archaeology TV programme, Ready, Steady, Dig! threatens the site, the Lares jump into action. … Cornwall-based Winter provides the reader with a fascinating look at the Roman era, weaving it around a heart-warming narrative, appealing to both teenagers and adults.

Mensa Magazine, March 2009:

Disturbing the ancient gods in Villa Corvo 

 

'Blimey,' says Arthur, peering down into the hole. 'Blimey, Dazza, that's a hippy corpse.  Daza, mate, your dog's been an' gone an' found a Roman viler.' 

And that's how it all starts … When Rags the terrier gets stuck in a hole, his rescuers discover, not a hippy corpse, but the remains of a Roman villa. 

Soon news of the find spreads and rapidly attracts the interest of the intrepid television archaeologists from the Ready, Steady, Dig! programme (including one who goes by the delightfully appropriate name of Bony). 

However, nothing is as it seems on this dig, as this taster from the plot on the jacket sleeve reveals: 'When you have spent the last 1600 years faithfully guarding a precious hoard of gold and silver buried in the foundations of a Roman villa, the arrival of a bunch of TV archaeologists is seriously bad news.  But the little household gods of Villa Corvo have ways of deterring intruders that the makers of the popular programme Ready, Steady, Dig! could never have dreamed of …' 

Ready, Steady, Dig! is the very funny debut novel from the keyboard of St Austell member Rosalind Winter, a fine mix of comedy and drama. 

Rosalind says: 'This is a comic novel aimed at the Terry Pratchett young adult and Harry Potter markets.

Transcript of a review by Peter Rhodes, Express & Star, 1 January 2009:

Digging for History Under Glare of a Lare

It is 400 AD, the final days of the Roman Empire. The barbarians are coming. In the heart of England, a Roman family hide their treasure beneath their beloved villa.

They pray to their Lares, the little household gods, to protect their wealth until they come home again. But they never return.

The Lares, six-inch stone figures, do their duty, watching over the gold plate and coins for more than 1,600 years.

And then television’s favourite archaeology programme, Ready, Steady, Dig! (which sounds suspiciously like Time Team) arrives on the scene and starts digging into the mud. The Lares face their finest hour.

This is the starting point for Rosalind Winter’s delightful tale of a clash between ancient Rome and modern Britain. It is one of the most engaging and intelligent books I’ve read for ages.

It is shot through with wit and imagination, and rings richly with echoes of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.

I read it in four intense sessions and put it down with that same sense of joy I felt back in 1979 when I first read Adam’s classic, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Winter has the same engagingly silly approach to problems.

For example, what effect does the ground-radar used by modern archaeologists have on the Lares? It gives them all a migraine. The image of six little Roman gods with headaches is irresistible.

I must confess at the outset that Ros is an old mate. In the 1980s we served together in the Stourbridge-based TA unit 67 Signal Squadron. She later served with Birmingham University Officer Training Corps.

The daughter of an Indian Army officer, Ros was a rare blend of warrior and academic, equally at home writing a Latin thesis or field-stripping a machine-gun.

Now living in Cornwall, she has long been fascinated with Roman Britain, a passion which began on a school trip to the Roman villa at Chedworth in Gloucestershire.

In this, her first novel, Ros creates a secret world where ancient Roman gods encounter 21st Century humans, drawing them in to their age-old contract. The Lares are a delight. Their magical powers tend to be very limited. For example, the little god of the kitchen’s one and only trick is to make the milk go sour. But it is surprising how much damage this can do to a film unit fuelled almost entirely by cappuccinos.

And if your imagination needs a challenge, try picturing the Genius loci, the spirit of the place, who is both six inches tall and 1,000 feet high and cannot understand why this troubles humans.

Ready, Steady, Dig!, the first of a trilogy, would make a wonderful radio series or an animated film. I came away from it with that strange mix of delight and envy that one writer gets from being made to laugh out loud by another.

So it gets the best five-word review of them all: I wish I’d written that.

• Ready, Steady, Dig!, available from Amazon.com, is published by Legend Press and YouWriteOn.com at £6.99.

Comments by reviewers on the Arts Council-sponsored writers' website, YouWriteOn.com:

I can hardly find words to describe how much I enjoyed this and how disappointed I was when the excerpt drew to a close! The wit and humour of this reminds me of Pratchett at his finest, yet the story concept is unique and nothing like anything I (in all my voraciousness) have ever read. Kymburlee

I'm not sure what you're on but if you have a bottle of it left I'll buy it off you. …This must be a bestseller in the making. Don't whatever you do change your style of writing and never stop chatting with the little people at the bottom of the garden, they are the best supporters a writer could have. And, Oh, avoid reality like the plague too, you're doing fine just where you are.
I can make no suggestion how you might improve this wonderful submission. All I can say is send me more.  Bruce Brislin

Macte! Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable and highly original read. I love your central premise - it caught my imagination immediately - and I think it shows great promise.
To my mind, the technical aspects of your writing are pretty faultless. Pace, structure, use of language - all handled with ease and confidence. I was never bored or confused, and the whole thing flowed very smoothly.
The characters are beautifully observed and very charming.  Panurge

This is wonderful, I really enjoyed it and I'm afraid I can't be bothered trying to find faults so I'm giving you 5s for everything. I hope it ends up being published. Altawamir

Well done Ros! I've managed to get a copy of the whole book and I love it. I think you're a worthy successor to Terry Pratchett and can't wait for your next book. Nemo

This is wonderful. It was a delight from start to finish and I really do want to read more.  Fandango

What an awesome piece. I certainly enjoyed this. It's one of the most original and exciting pieces I have read on this site. Teresa Damario

I can't fault it or think of any improvements, it's perfect as it is. Gillshut

What a fun novel! This reminds of Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men/Tiffany series, but isn't derivative at all. Funny little men and (mostly) stupid humans getting cross ways with each other. The prose is excellent - really, some of the best I've seen on YWO, with a strong voice that really shows up in the dialogue. I wish there was more faux-fantasy (or whatever you want to call it) like this because it's so much fun to read and doesn't take itself so seriously. Wilde Silas