Thursday, May 14, 2009

Top 10 subterranean books

Stephen Smith, a writer, journalist, broadcaster, and the culture correspondent for BBC Newsnight, is the author of several books, including Cuba: Land of Miracles, Underground London, and the newly released Underground England, which "travels the length, breadth and depth of the country in search of wonders both natural and man-made, from smugglers' tunnels to Knights Templar chapels."

For the Guardian, he named his top 10 subterranean books. One title on the list:
Moonfleet by J Meade Falkner

Smuggling was practised not only on the Spanish Main but around our sceptr'd Isle. At New Brighton, Merseyside, where my family is from, the privateers salted their booty away beneath the butter-soft sandstone. Moonfleet contains my cri de coeur: "I believe there never was a boy yet who saw a hole in the ground, or a cave in a hill, or much more an underground passage, but longed incontinently to be into it and discover whither it led."
Read about all ten books on Smith's list.

--Marshal Zeringue