Prospero’s Cell by Lawrence Durrell

4 out of 5 stars

The Island of Corfu has a long and sometimes bloody history. For the past 2000 years, it has absorbed elements of its culture from the surroundings and then made them its own. The Durrells are now linked with the island after Lawrence persuaded his mother to move there with his siblings prior to World War II.

You don’t get much of Durrell in this book, rather you get a series of profiles and vignettes about the people and the island written in a diary form. He weaves together a history of the people and the place as well as an insider’s perspective of life on the island. My favourite chapter was the one titled Landscape with Olive Trees, this tells how the people live and we get to meet the Count and man who still observes the pagan practices that the Orthodox Church has still not banished from the island.

It is the sweetest of the island waters, because it tastes of nothing but the warm afternoon, the breath of the cicadas, the idle winds crisping at little corners of the inert sea, which stretches away towards Africa, death-blue and timeless.

This is a beautifully written book about the wonderful island of Corfu. I was fortunate enough to be on the island whilst reading this too. A lot has changed since Durrell was there and wrote these words, but a lot has stayed the same too. The people are still warm and welcoming, the landscape is still sun-drenched and the silvery leaves of the olive trees still shimmer in the wind and the sea glistens in the sun. I haven’t read any of his fiction books yet, only a couple of his non-fiction and this is really good. If you are unable to visit this place for whatever reason, let this book take you there in an instant.

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2 Comments

  1. Liz Dexter

    How wonderful to be able to read the book in its actual setting! Did you take it with you or find it there?

    • Paul

      I took it with me. I have done this a few times now, I have a pile of books on Sicily with me when we went in 2019.

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