Novelist, poet, journalist and wit, Rose Macaulay was one of the most popular writers and personalities in England from the 1920s until her death, in 1958.
A group of highly unusual travel companions makes its way from Istanbul to legendary Trebizond. Aunt Dot is there to improve the lot of women, while her friend Father Hugh Chantry-Pigg is
hoping to convert the masses to his particular brand of High Anglicanism. Somewhere along the way, Dot and Hugh go missing – possibly to Jerusalem, possibly to Russia – and rumour spreads that they are spies.
The Towers of Trebizond brings together several of Macaulay’s abiding interests: exotic travel, liturgical disputation, Church history, and ancient ruins . . . Macaulay deftly peels away the centuries, making The Towers of Trebizond one of the most erudite of books. It is also one of the funniest. — The Atlantic
‘It is an extraordinary novel, being not just a witty and lyrically written account of the journey of a heart and soul, but also, a beguiling history lesson, a masterclass in acute social observation, and a remarkable polemic on female emancipation and religious sectarianism. I think I’ll be re-reading it several times more . . .’ Joanna Trollope
‘An utter delight, the most brilliant witty and charming book I have read since I can’t remember when . . .’ New York Times
The Shining City
Picture the scene: a heavyweight London literary event in the 1930s. Two well-known women novelists, chatting. ‘My novels won’t live, Ivy,’ says Rose Macaulay to Ivy Compton-Burnett. ‘Yours...
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