A Tomb With a View: The Stories and Glories of Graveyards: Scottish Non-fiction Book of the Year 2021

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What made Bob Reinhardt – who lives in the US – set up Friends of Warriston Cemetery and become so obsessed with the place that he has taken around 60,000 photos of it and other Edinburgh burial grounds? I am in two minds of both systems; on the one hand I thoroughly enjoy wandering around cemeteries that have very old burial plots, yet on the other hand, if people continue to wish to be buried, they have to go somewhere.

He is the author of the non-fiction collections Daunderlust and The Passion Of Harry Bingo, the latter shortlisted as non-fiction book of the year at the Saltire Society literary awards. The chapters seem to be divided by elements on graveyards, like an ankh or angels, but then other chapters had titles like ‘Peter’ (to discuss the live and grave of this Peter) and ‘Skulls’ (to discuss a church with an ossuary). Throughout reading this I wondered what the purpose of this book was, beyond stressing graveyards are ‘fun’.

I have experienced first-hand the knowledge of public engagement manager Janine Marriott, as she provided a tour during the fourteenth edition of the Death, Dying and Disposal conference that is held biennially.

Taphophiles – people who are interested in cemeteries, funerals and gravestones – are an interesting bunch. Every week, First World War casualties are found when farmers dig up their fields or ground is being prepared for building. Not just of lives lost, but of graveyards as a place of solace and a place to retreat to when parks became so crowded as to mitigate against social distancing.

So many stories, from Muslim burials by Britain’s oldest firm of Muslim funeral directors to grand monuments, from Whitby Goths to tiny unmarked graves; each has a story and Ross accords each with the same degree of care and interest.