Welcome to the Amateurs in Eden website. The book tells the story of Lawrence Durrell’s first wife Nancy, who was my mother, and the title is taken from one of his poems, The Prayer Wheel:
Cross the threshold of the circle
Turning in its mesmerism
On the fulcrum of the Breath:
Learn the lovely mannerism
Of a perfect art-in-death
Think: two amateurs in Eden,
Spaces in the voiceless garden,
Ancestors whose haunted faces
Met upon the apple’s bruises,
Broke the lovely spell of pardon.
Amateurs in Eden is published by Virago, January 2012. I hope the book will be of interest not just to devotees of Durrell’s work, but to anyone who is interested in the story of a fascinating and complex woman who lived through remarkable times. Do stay and explore this website, follow the blog, check out the gallery and the links, and if you want to comment on any of it, or any of the topics raised, then do please get in touch.
