Gilgamesh - Hardcover

Joan-london

3.68

1,793 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843541823 ISBN 13: 9781843541820

Publisher: ATLANTIC BOOKS, 2003

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Gilgamesh is a rich, spare, and evocative novel of encounters and escapes, of friendship and love, of loss and acceptance, a debut that marks the emergence of a world-class talent. It is 1937. The modern world, they say, is waiting to erupt. On a tiny farm in far southwestern Australia, seventeen-year-old Edith lives with her mother and sister, Frances. One afternoon two men, her English cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend Aram, arrive -- taking the long way home from an archaeological dig in Iraq. Edith is captivated by the tales they tell of strange peoples, magical journeys, and a world far beyond the narrow horizon of her small town of Nunderup. One such story is the epic of Gilgamesh, the ancient Mesopotamian king who adventured throughout the world with his friend the wild man Enkidu, in search of the secret of eternal life. Two years later, in 1939, Edith and her young son, Jim, set off on a journey of their own, to Soviet Armenia, where they are trapped by the outbreak of war. A novel of stunning accomplishment, Gilgamesh examines what happens when we strike out into the world, and how, like the wandering king, we find our way home.

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About the Author:

Joan London is the author of two prize-winning collections of stories published in Australia. Gilgamesh is her first novel and her first work to be published in the UK.

Review:

"'Joan London's glancing, iridescent, intelligent first novel... is such a pleasure to read, her prose a seamlessly shifting blend of poetry, pathos and humour' Washington Post; 'Streamlined, strong and remarkably lovely... Reading Gilgamesh is like watching a magician who can do many things rapidly, expertly and all at once' New York Times Book Review; 'An epic tale from a writer of considerable distinction' Sydney Morning Herald"

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