Cypria

Will appeal to readers of The Great Sea by David Abulafia (10k HB, 9k PB) and Byzantium by Judith Herrin (4.5k HB, 43k PB), and in modern approaches to classical mythology, typified by Mythos by Stephen Fry (108k HB, 320k PB), Venus & Aphrodite by Bettany Hughes (4.6k HB) or Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes (10.3k HB partial TCM). From fiction , The Island by Victoria Hislop (1.2 million PB) and The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (August 2021).

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld and author of four books published in 12 languages, including the novels Let Us Be True and Glass, winner of the Betty Trask Prize for fiction. He has written for numerous publications including the Guardian, London Magazine, and the White Review. Dostoevsky in Love was named as a Literary Non-fiction Book of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times.

TimelineIntroduction: The City and the City1. Spume: The birth of the Great Goddess2. Olive Culture: How trade began3. The Lost Kingdom of Alashiya: Diving into the Bronze Age4. Cypria: Survivors of Mycenaean Greece5. The Purple Ones: Phoenicians and their philosophy6. Apostle: The Cypriots who spread Christianity 7. Monks and Cats: St Helena's pilgrimage8. Oasis: The Arab conquest, the Empire of Cyprus and the Third Crusade at sea 9. The Fairytale Castle: The House of Lusignan10. Lala Mustafa Pasha: The siege of Famagusta and the formation of the Holy LeagueBattle of Lepanto11. Linen Blend: The Turkish influence12. Cyprus, New York: How history was weaponised as 'civilisation'13. Olympians: Religious and secular authority in Britain's Christian colonyBritain's Christian colony14. The Philhellene: The burning down of Government House15. Kafeneon: The left and right wing schism16. Bitter Lemons: The struggle for enosis17. The Battle of the Knife: The militarisation of Cyprus18. The Ledra Palace Hotel: The war on neighbours19. Ghosts: The tragedies of 197420. Ayia Napa, Ayia Napa, Ayia Napa: The holiday from the self21. Drilling for Gods: Moscow on the Med Epilogue: The fort, and the dangers of digging up the pastNotes BibliographyAcknowledgements

In this beautifully-written book, Alex Christofi tells of the contradictions that make Cyprus so fascinating, an island as ageless as its olive trees and contestations over its historical memory.
Christofi sees Cyprus from both the inside and outside, as a returnee and a traveller. The result is a modern, original book that reinvigorates writing about place in an arresting, lucid, and connected way. It puts the island back in the middle of the map, brought to life in Christofi's always beautiful, erudite prose.
Clear, erudite and wonderfully affable, Christofi's ability to fuse his own family's relationship to Cyprus with that of its wider history, makes Cypria a necessary and illuminating read. Warm, poised and informative, Christofi's reach is expansive, bringing Cyprus into sharper focus without jettisoning or shying away from complex and sometimes unpleasant aspects of its recent past.
This beautifully-written book is a delight from start to finish, with gems on every page. Alex Christofi is a fond yet even handed guide to Cyprus. If you have never been this book will make you want to go.