He states that he wants to achieve a ‘sense of immediacy’ between the ancient past and the present, akin to that which can be found through film; a sense of the ‘past happening before our eyes’. But it is unclear what literature Mackay is contributing to, or why he has decided to read what he’s read, and not read what he has not read. One need only look to the 20th-century historical pageant movement (which Mackay only briefly alludes to in the Colchester context) to see that playing with the elasticity of time is part of Boudica’s posthumous story. Of course Boudica’s connection with Colchester is hugely significant, but we spend an awful lot of time there that we don’t spend in the other two places indelibly marked by Boudica’s rebellion: London and St Albans. From the Breckland of Norfolk to the back streets of Colchester, from the remotest corner of Anglesey to the depths of the London Underground, Duncan takes us back two thousand years to retell the story of Britain's bloodiest year.

History Today Boudica Lite | History Today

Rather than the outdoorsy travelogue one might expect, much of the action (so to speak) takes place in museums.Duncan has written a masterpiece - a journey and an investigation that fuses landscape and history, chasing the echoes of Boudica's rebellion and finding its physical traces that still surround us today. Mackay’s imagined scenarios about what may or may not have happened in any given place during her rebellion are arresting and form some of the book’s best material, but are speculative. He believes that every place, indoors or out, urban, rural or wild, has its own link with the past, and a unique tale to tell. From the Breckland of Norfolk to the back streets of Colchester, from the remotest corner of Anglesey to the depths of the London Underground, Duncan takes us back two thousand years to retell the story of Britain’s bloodiest year.

Echolands by Duncan Mackay | Waterstones

Mackay`s knowledge is profound, but lightly worn, his writing elegant and witty, and his enthusiasm infectious.Fusing ancient history, modern excavation, landscape exploration, and vivid reconstruction, Echolands weaves the long-lost tapestry of Boudica’s war. We lose some wonder and nuance in this retelling, and even more so as it is further refracted through the most limiting lens of all: the self. Duncan has written a masterpiece – a journey and an investigation that fuses landscape and history, chasing the echoes of Boudica’s rebellion and finding its physical traces that still surround us today.

Echolands by Duncan Mackay | Book review | The TLS Echolands by Duncan Mackay | Book review | The TLS

Particularly striking is the bed found in Lion Walk: burnt nearly to cinders during the city’s destruction, it somehow survived in relatively recognisable form as two rectangular couches or mattresses. Duncan lives in Norfolk with his wife, son, soppy black Labrador and overexcited Cockapoo, indulging his passion for walking marshes and deserted beaches, and hurling himself into freezing rivers at dawn. Colchester is particularly rich in finds related to the Boudican rebellion and Mackay makes the most of them.Given that the material can lack definitive shape, one could ask for more authorial intervention on substantive points. An engaged, informed companion for the armchair time traveller…captures the thrill and the difficulties of interpreting the past’. Beginning near his home in Norfolk, in the heart of Boudica’s tribal territory, he embarks on a journey in the footsteps of Romans and Britons, exploring their villages, towns, forts and roads. References to recent archaeology far outweigh any appeals to history or literary studies, although it is those areas (and, arguably, anthropology), not archaeology, that would provide a more satisfying context. But part of the durability of the Boudica tradition lies in its potential for reimagining and reinterpretation for reasons other than the weight of evidence.