About This Book
The narrative is set in Cyprus; the main characters being, Aristo, an archaeologist who has turned his Paphos home into a small private museum, and his teenage son, Pavlos, who now live alone together.
Aristo's obsessive need to trace and belong to his family - even though he is told they were all burnt and left unidentifiable in the Turkish invasion of the island - has estranged his English wife, and is gradually distancing his only child, while in turn, Pavlos has an increasing need to belong to a father who will make time for him.
Then Katherine, a colleague of Aristo, arrives to confuse the already-confused and impressionable young man.
As the practices and those assembled at Aristo's late-night museum 'staff meetings' unfold themselves to Pavlos, the boy is led deeper into a sinister confrontation with ancient and unquiet souls.
This novel, with its vivid descriptive passages about the Paphos museum and the Troodos mountains, has a tautness and nervous energy which haunts the reader.
The author, part Greek Cypriot, was raised amongst Greeks in England and has travelled extensively through Cyprus. He has particular admiration for the village people whose company he has enjoyed so much in the Troodos Mountains.
Tags
Cyprus, father and son, belonging, roots, moving, supernatural, romance, Barbara Erskine, Modern Greeks, hypnotism, ancient Greeks, mystery.
