CYPRIA

A brilliant exploration of Cyprus s long history of cultural resilience Superbly composed Guardian Poetic Compelling New Statesman One of National Geographic s Summer Reads 2024 Think of a place where you can stand at the intersection of Christian and Arab cultures at the crossroads of the British Ottoman Byzantine Roman and Egyptian empires a place marked by the struggle between fascism and communism and where the capital city is divided in half as a result of bloody conflict where the ancient olive trees of Homer s time exist alongside the undersea cables which link up the world s internet In Cypria British Cypriot writer Alex Christofi writes a deeply personal lyrical history of the island of Cyprus from the era of goddesses and mythical beasts to the present day This sprawling evocative and poetic book begins with the legend of the cyclops and the storytelling at the heart of the Mediterranean culture Christofi travels to salt lakes crusader castles mosques and the eerie town deserted at the start of the 1974 war He retells the particularly bloody history of Cyprus during the twentieth century and considers his own identity as traveler and returner as Odysseus was Written in sensitive witty and beautifully rendered prose with a n