'1960. The world is dancing on the edge of revolution, and nowhere more so than on the Greek island of Hydra, where a circle of poets, painters and musicians live tangled lives, ruled by the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, troubled king and queen of bohemia. Forming within this circle is a triangle: its points the magnetic, destructive writer Axel Jensen, his dazzling wife Marianne Ihlen, and a young Canadian poet named Leonard Cohen.
'Into their midst arrives teenage Erica, with little more than a bundle of blank notebooks and her grief for her mother. Settling on the periphery of this circle, she watches, entranced and disquieted, as a paradise unravels.
'Burning with the heat and light of Greece, A Theatre for Dreamers is a spellbinding novel about utopian dreams and innocence lost – and the wars waged between men and women on the battlegrounds of genius.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'One new friend is Charmian Clift’s Mermaid Singing, a memoir of trauma and self-discovery and a reminder of what could have been.'
'A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson’s third novel, is pages and pages of rapturous fantasy of summer days on a small Greek island at the start of the 1960s. Dazzling sunlight, nude swims in the blue sea, midnight hikes while wrapped in blankets under the stars, stray cat rescues, endless glasses of retsina and ouzo, fresh bread, feta, honey, lemon and olive oil, sardines and grilled octopus and ice-cream. Yes, it is a book for people who wish they could have a holiday right now, and amid the glut of sensory descriptions you really do feel like you’re there – and it’s a really nice feeling. But in a novel of this length, that wealth of atmosphere wants some kind of driving question, or a real plot, to hang itself on.' (Introduction)
'For or anyone feeling stir-crazy after weeks cooped up in self-isolation, A Theatre for Dreamers offers an appealing escape, a virtual vacation on the Greek island of Hydra. Dive into these pages and you can swim vicariously in a perfect horseshoe-shaped bay, dry off in the summer sun, admire countless young, scantily clad men and women, and end the day with a glass of retsina while you watch the moon set and listen to a young Leonard Cohen enunciate profundities about life and art.' (Introduction)
'For or anyone feeling stir-crazy after weeks cooped up in self-isolation, A Theatre for Dreamers offers an appealing escape, a virtual vacation on the Greek island of Hydra. Dive into these pages and you can swim vicariously in a perfect horseshoe-shaped bay, dry off in the summer sun, admire countless young, scantily clad men and women, and end the day with a glass of retsina while you watch the moon set and listen to a young Leonard Cohen enunciate profundities about life and art.' (Introduction)
'A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson’s third novel, is pages and pages of rapturous fantasy of summer days on a small Greek island at the start of the 1960s. Dazzling sunlight, nude swims in the blue sea, midnight hikes while wrapped in blankets under the stars, stray cat rescues, endless glasses of retsina and ouzo, fresh bread, feta, honey, lemon and olive oil, sardines and grilled octopus and ice-cream. Yes, it is a book for people who wish they could have a holiday right now, and amid the glut of sensory descriptions you really do feel like you’re there – and it’s a really nice feeling. But in a novel of this length, that wealth of atmosphere wants some kind of driving question, or a real plot, to hang itself on.' (Introduction)
'One new friend is Charmian Clift’s Mermaid Singing, a memoir of trauma and self-discovery and a reminder of what could have been.'
