Invisible Cities

Fifty-five fictional cities, each described in beautiful detail - each with a woman's name... In Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, but gradually it becomes clear that he is actually describing one city: Venice. As Gore Vidal wrote 'Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvellous invention like Invisible Cities , perfectly irrelevant.' This is a captivating meditation on culture, language, time, memory and the nature of human experience. ' Invisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose... The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island' Jeanette Winterson 'Touches inexhaustibly on the essence of the human urge to create cities, be in cities, speak of cities' Guardian 'A subtle and beautiful meditation' Sunday Times