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Highgate Cemetery: Victorian Valhalla by Felix Barker

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Divia
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Highgate Cemetery: Victorian Valhalla by Felix Barker

Post by Divia » Wed August 19th, 2009, 12:17 am

I know a few people have been interested in this book but the hefty price tag and small page count has kept a few away. I was lucky enough to snag a copy..a used smelly page sticking together copy...but a copy and for cheap.

The first part of the book contains two chapters(listed below) which consists of 44 pages of text. The rest of the book has marvelous black and white photographs. It's almost a shame that there were not more. However, the pictures the reader does see are moving and impressive.

The book contains the following chapters:
The Cemetery (This chapter explains why the cemetery had to be built, who created it, the cemeteries slow demise and how volunteers helped bring the cemetery back to life.
Companions in Death (Which tells a few of the more interesting people who are buried there. For example one man was so in love with his wife that he buried his poems with her only to retrieve them a few years later.

One issue I have is if a tombstone is mentioned (and there is a picture) you have to flip to the back of the book to find it. I would have enjoyed the pictures being on the same page. But I think the author wanted the reader to get a full size picture of the tombstones.

There were also six drawings from the time period. One depicts a funeral procession the others are what I believe to be of Highgate.

While I do love this book and I am glad I bought it the current price of $50.00 is a bit much for what you get. Its sad that this book is no longer in print because I'm sure there would be a lot of interest.
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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Sun August 23rd, 2009, 10:08 pm

I live about three miles up the road from Highgate but have never visited the cemetery although I've always meant to get round to it. I got more interested after I discovered it was used as a setting in Bram Stoker's Dracula (I mean the book not the film). Really must make the effort!

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Vaughn Entwistle
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Highgate Cemetery

Post by Vaughn Entwistle » Fri July 9th, 2010, 3:38 pm

Highate Cemetery is effectively a main character in my Victorian suspense novel: Angel of Highgate.

I visited Highgate twice to conduct some research. It is a fantastic and atmospheric place. Unfortunately, however, visitors are not allowed to stroll the grounds at will and soak up the atmosphere. The place is run by the Friends of Highgate who run the tours like a military boot camp.

Both times my wife and I were lead on a tour by a guide who conducted the tour at a running pace. You weren't allowed to dawdle and actually look at anything. I was taking photos to use as reference material for my novel and was repeatedly challenged by the tour guide as to why I was taking so many photographs. (The guide must have worked as security at a military installation beforehand.)

Given that the cemetery is not easy to reach by London-based tourists, you might wish to visit Kensal Green cemetery instead.

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Fri July 9th, 2010, 5:50 pm

Hi another Washingtonian! What is your book about? Just the brief mention sounds interesting. I only got into graveyards last year and but I'm still not a big fan of going to them. When I was a child I lived up in Capital Hill and would play at Volunteer Park, right next to the Lake View Cemetery (odd place to put a playground if you ask me!). I only went there once with my brother to see Bruce Lee's grave (Brandon hadn't died yet).

SM
Last edited by SonjaMarie on Fri July 9th, 2010, 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Fri July 9th, 2010, 6:48 pm

I had the same experience when I went to New Orleans. I could barely take any pics and the lady didn't let me wander far.

I like to move leisurely through a cemetery.
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Vaughn Entwistle
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Angel of Highgate

Post by Vaughn Entwistle » Fri July 9th, 2010, 6:58 pm

Sonja,

I had an agent for my novel, but she basically sat it on and never submitted it so now I am about to go the epublishing route.

Here is the book jacket copy of my book.

Angel of Highgate begins and ends in Highgate Cemetery, the most beautiful and atmospheric necropolis in London. The protagonist is Lord Geoffrey Thraxton, a Byronesque rakehell who boasts a reputation as the “wickedest man in London.” After surviving a pistol duel, Thraxton mocks death and insults the attending doctor. It is a mistake he will later regret, for Silas Garrette is a deranged sociopath and chloroform-addict whose mind was broken on the battlefields of Crimea. Oblivious to the danger, Thraxton continues his pursuit of idle pleasure until one debauched night in Highgate Cemetery where a near-fatal confrontation with Resurrection Men changes his life forever and propels him on a trajectory that ends in a collision with the murderous doctor.

Along the way, the narrative sweeps the reader from champagne soirees in the mummy room of the British Museum, through the stygian alleyways of the Seven Dials Rookery, to a fight to the death in the wicker basket of a balloon soaring high above the smoking chimney pots of the metropolis.

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Fri July 9th, 2010, 6:59 pm

Wow, sounds interesting, keep us appraised about when we might be able to get it. Sorry about your agent.

SM
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Post by SGM » Fri July 9th, 2010, 8:46 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]I live about three miles up the road from Highgate but have never visited the cemetery although I've always meant to get round to it. I got more interested after I discovered it was used as a setting in Bram Stoker's Dracula (I mean the book not the film). Really must make the effort![/quote]

I live not too far away as well and although I walked the butterfly trail through Finsbury Park to the new half and paid my respects to George Elliot and Karl, I have yet to do the old part. Thiis is probably because I understand that it is so overgrown that you have to take the offiical walk with the guide at specific times and that is just a little too organised for me at the weekend. But I really do intend to do it sometimes.

An old joke -- where is the only place where you can find Marks & Spenser on opposite sides of the road? Highgate cemetery, of course.
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Vaughn Entwistle
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Highgate Cemtery

Post by Vaughn Entwistle » Sun July 11th, 2010, 3:54 pm

SonjaMarie,

As soon as I've gone through all the formatting tricks necessary to upload Angel of Highgate to smashwords, I intend to get the ball rolling by offering it for a limited time to members of this forum as a free download.

I'll keep everyone appraised when that happens.

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Sun July 11th, 2010, 6:19 pm

[quote=""Vaughn Entwistle""]SonjaMarie,

As soon as I've gone through all the formatting tricks necessary to upload Angel of Highgate to smashwords, I intend to get the ball rolling by offering it for a limited time to members of this forum as a free download.

I'll keep everyone appraised when that happens.[/quote]

Oh nice! Though I don't really like reading books on my computer, it bothers my eyes :(

SM
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