by Ian Morris
First published 1989
Jan Morris arrives in Hav, a Mediterranean city state perched between Europe and Asia. She walks through markets where Italian mingles with Russian and Arabic. She samples the famous snow raspberries and watches locals prepare for the annual rooftop race, where athletes leap between buildings in a display of skill and madness. Morris explores the architectural wonders that dot the skyline: onion domes, minarets, and one puzzling pagoda. She learns that Hav may be the site of ancient Troy. Crusaders once captured it, then Saladin took it back. Tolstoy visited, as did Hitler, Grace Kelly, and Princess Diana. The casinos and cafés reveal a faded grandeur, a place isolated from the modern world. Morris pieces together this complex history while documenting a civilization that exists nowhere else on earth. Her journey becomes a meditation on place, memory, and the stories we tell about the worlds we inhabit.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, travelogue
Setting: Asia, Europe, Hav, Italy, Russia, Troy
Period: Crusades, Modern
203 pages · Paperback · Vintage Books / Random House