Folio Prize short list

The new Folio Prize has announced an inaugural short list of eight writers, which is bound to cause some controversy. Five of the writers are from the US, one from Canada, one from England and one from Ireland. The prize was set up as something of a response to the Man Booker Prize, not least … Read more

Lawrence Durrell: Monsieur or The Prince of Darkness

The latest addition to my website is Lawrence Durrell‘s Monsieur or The Prince of Darkness, the first in Durrell’s Avignon Quintet. It starts with the apparent suicide of Piers de Nogaret, descendant of Guillaume de Nogaret, the man who, in 1307, arrested many of the Templars. Piers’ friend and brother-in-law, Bruce Drexel, a doctor in … Read more