Swimming To Ithaca

Now in B Format.

An exciting and atmospheric novel which will continue to expand the audience for Simon Mawer

As Dee Denham, once a beautiful and beloved wife, the toast of colonial Cyprus, lies dying, her former life seems unimaginably distant. And then out of the blue Dee speaks to her son Thomas, sitting at her bedside: she tells him that her illness is a punishment. Compelled by a grief he cannot articulate and a confused childhood memory of betrayal, as Thomas begins the process of dismantling his mother's life he finds himself searching for the meaning of her last words. Embarked on a dangerous liaison of his own, he searches through faded photographs and love letters, seeks out survivors and examines his own imperfect remembrance, and suddenly a whole vanished world comes to life. The restless, seductive island of Cyprus at the end of Empire, a place of oleander and carob trees, cocktails at the Harbour Club and adultery in shuttered bedrooms, peopled by ghostly admirers and conspirators, lovers and spies. With gathering momentum Dee's story unfolds, an intimate history of violence and tenderness for which Thomas finds himself quite unprepared.

“ 'The Cypriot narrative blooms with life, a certain intrigue and some sharply drawn characters' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Conjures up a 1950s world of carob trees, cocktails and rebellion' THE TIMES 'A gripping read' SUNDAY TIMES Praise for THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS: 'Compelling ... thrillingly readable' OBSERVER ** 'A gripping, utterly compelling story' THE TIMES”

The Cypriot narrative blooms with life, a certain intrigue and some sharply drawn characters - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Conjures up a 1950s world of carob trees, cocktails and rebellion - THE TIMES

A gripping read - SUNDAY TIMES

Simon Mawer was born in 1948 in England, and spent his childhood there, in Cyprus and in Malta. He now lives with his wife and two children in Italy, and teaches at the English School in Rome.

Author Location: Rome, Italy

THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS (978 0 349 11358 6); THE FALL (ISBN 0 349 11652 0)

Now in B Format.An exciting and atmospheric novel which will continue to expand the audience for Simon MawerAs Dee Denham, once a beautiful and beloved wife, the toast of colonial Cyprus, lies dying, her former life seems unimaginably distant. And then out of the blue Dee speaks to her son Thomas, sitting at her bedside: she tells him that her illness is a punishment. Compelled by a grief he cannot articulate and a confused childhood memory of betrayal, as Thomas begins the process of dismantling his mother's life he finds himself searching for the meaning of her last words. Embarked on a dangerous liaison of his own, he searches through faded photographs and love letters, seeks out survivors and examines his own imperfect remembrance, and suddenly a whole vanished world comes to life. The restless, seductive island of Cyprus at the end of Empire, a place of oleander and carob trees, cocktails at the Harbour Club and adultery in shuttered bedrooms, peopled by ghostly admirers and conspirators, lovers and spies. With gathering momentum Dee's story unfolds, an intimate history of violence and tenderness for which Thomas finds himself quite unprepared.

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