The Hidden Bones

Author/Guide: Nicola Ford

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: Sometimes digging up the truth can prove to be deadly

ISBN: 978-0749023676
Genre: Crime

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What you need to know before your trail

Following the recent death of her husband, Clare Hills is grieving whilst still working as an archaeologist. When her former university friend Dr David Barbrook asks her to help him sift through the effects of deceased archaeologist Gerald Hart, she sees this as a useful distraction.

During her search, Clare stumbles across the unpublished journals detailing Gerald’s most glittering dig. Hidden from view for decades and supposedly destroyed in an arson attack, she cannot believe her luck. Finding the Hungerbourne Barrows archive is every archaeologist’s dream. Determined to document Gerald’s career-defining find for the public, Clare and David delve into his meticulously kept records of the excavation. But the dream suddenly becomes a nightmare as the pair unearth a disturbing discovery, putting them at the centre of a murder inquiry and in the path of a dangerous killer determined to bury the truth for ever.

Travel Guide

Malborough Downs “Hungerforde”

Malbourough Downs/Hungerbourne

The places mentioned in the novel such as Hungerbourne are fictional although they are based on real places. Hungerbourne for example is inspired by a hamlet in the Malborough Downs.

“Hungerbourne was a typical downland village. Perched on a small plateau on the souther slope of an upland valley, to the casual observer its thatched cottages and rose-filled gardens gave it a timeless quality.”

And there’s a water way running past the barrow cemetery down to the bottom of the valley which has a very chilling legend to it -the waters only flow in really wet years and it’s the association with the rising of the waters and death why they have this place as a burial site.

Stonehenge

The ancient gold work in the novel is based on discoveries unearthed from one of the burial mounds in the Stonehenge landscape. Today,they form part of the collections of the Wiltshire Museum, Devizes (at the time of writing they are on display in the Stonehenge visitor exhibition centre where the author works)

The characters work at the university of Salisbury (fictional) but there is mention of the British Museum of London where the rather exciting sounding Prehistoric Antiquarian department is located

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

I love the Elly Griffiths novels about digging secrets up from the past and so this book from Nicola Ford certainly got my attention. The woman works at Stonehenge for goodness sake so she knows what she’s talking about and not only that you can tell the passion for the subject and the insider knowledge she lends to the book.

There’s a cracking mystery here – a dead archeologist with secrets of his own. And a local legend – that of the Hungerbourne waters which bring poverty and death to the area. There’s lots of room for superstition and doubts in this hamlet and the surrounding area so that all made the novel unique and interesting. Aptly enough, there’s lots of layers to dig down and enjoy – the character development of Dr David Barbrook and Clare Hills was good and I’d be keen to read more as their working relationship develops.

I did find the novel a bit slow in places and there is a tendency for archaeology terminology to take over or at least get in the way of the plot. This is a debut though so the author is going to have to do some scene setting and an introduction into that field of work. I really got a sense of being on a dig with Nicola Ford and really quite fancy going to Stonehenge and the Malbourough Downs after this on the hunt for some kind of treasure..maybe even a gold disk.

Book two please!