LUDLOW becomes the town of High Marches in a new novel, The Dying Light, from bestselling author Henry Porter.

Novelist, political commentator and London editor of Vanity Fair, Henry Porter’s latest book centres on the growing extent to which we as a society are monitored and creates a frighteningly credible picture of where we’re headed, our ever y move watched, every piece of information about every one of us collected and collated until any freedom we have is little more than an illusion.

Henry Porter grew up in Bredon Hill and Ludlow is, he says, one of his favourite places.

“I always wanted to set this novel in Ludlow – it’s one of the prettiest towns in England, but a normal town.”

It is Ludlow’s very normality that makes it the perfect setting for the sinister implications of constant sur veillance to be explored, as Porter paints an alarmingly convincing picture of how much is known about us.

Kate Lockhart arrives in High Marches for the funeral of her close friend, David Eyam, killed in a bomb blast far from home.

But she soon discovers that she has inher ited not only his beloved home, but with it a devastating legacy that threatens further violence.

A former SIS officer, Kate’s initial resistance to carr ying on Eyam’s mission soon evaporates as events dramatically unfold to convince her of the necessity of challenging the status quo. With help from beyond the grave, will the state prove a match for the genius of the dead?