A Must Read...

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Pictured is the novel I've just finished in this evening's welcome sunshine, after a rather Celtic day of mist and occasional drizzle: both forecast and soon to be replaced - it is hoped - by at least one day of hot and sunny weather. Hopefully, the last day of our short trip here will be blessed: we'll see. Tomorrow we are set to finally walk the length of the cove of Porth Neigwl, something we've been threatening to do for forty years, and never seemed ever to get past the intention and into action on. I'll keep you posted on that, but back to the book.

I bought this from a second-hand outlet a couple of weeks ago, only to discover that it was originally owned by an acquaintance of ours from the old Gerlan Bohemia days, who was the widow of an artist friend of ours [blog posts passim], and who appears to have died herself whilst halfway through the book. Although a slow burning starter, this story turned out to be greatly affecting, deeply philosophical, and a joy to read.

Hamid's almost terse, prose-poetic writing style is lyrical and emotionally evocative: and the dénouement of the book left me grinning and tearful at the same time. A truly great read that I can't believe I missed out on at the time of its publication; although in some ways, in retrospect, it seems to have been prescient: its message more appropriate now than then...

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