Flying Home

Author’s copy.
I didn’t care about anything. I felt wonderful.
I had never felt more wonderful in my life…
‘You’re beautiful,’ I said. ‘Come to Greece.’
Leo Axelrod, painter, successful illustrator, lonely and alone in England, asks a girl to go with him to Greece. He doesn’t know anything about her, not even her name, but amazingly she agrees.
They set off together in a second-hand red mini, packed with luggage and plans. But they are not alone in the car. For Leo’s parents are there and his grandfather too – three loveless ghosts from the past. And Marianne has her ghosts too…
‘What could have become a trite variation on the universal search for identity instead becomes Lurie’s most outstanding literary effort to date. It is a cathartic experience, evoking strong emotions. Lurie seeks out the contours of childhood and re-creates it poignantly and with laughter.’ Carmel Kelly, The
National Times