Armchair Escapism 13

Books
Sicily through writer’s eyes, edited by Horatio Clare

Through the lens of local and travelling writers coming from all walks and epochs of life, this is an anthology of texts which brings the Mediterranean’s largest island to life. It’s a rare opportunity to read varying accounts on Sicily side by side, awakening new contexts and perspectives. We go from Goethe’s 19th century journals describing his arrival by boat and experience in the gritty and gregarious Palermo followed an extract from one of Andrea Camilleri’s (Sicily’s version of Agatha Christie) iconic and witty Montalbano detective novels. Sicily has a chequered and coloured history which has inspired minds since antiquity. 

The Sunrise, Victoria Hislop

In 1972, Aphroditi and Savvas Papacostas run the spectacularly successful luxury hotel, The Sunrise, sprawled along the coast of Famagusta in Cyprus. But under the sheen of glamour, rising tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots bubble to the surface and eventually erupt. With the 1974 Turkish coup d’etat, the inhabitants of Famagusta flee to safety transforming the thriving tourist destination into a ghost town. Just two families remain: the Greek Cypriot Georgiuos’ and the Turkish Cypriot Özkans. In this historical fiction, Victoria Hislop explores the palpable tensions within a very fraught political crisis that many of us know too little about. 

Bel-Ami, Guy de Maupassant

George Duroy arrives in Paris brimming with ambition and zeal. He lands a job as a journalist which thrusts him into the world of high society where soon enough his good looks and charms capture the attentions of affluent men and more importantly, their wives. Duroy hones his skills of seductions but as he gets closer to the epicentre of success and wealth, he also exposes himself to corruption and debauchery. Through the eyes of his impressionable protagonist, Guy de Maupassant balances the scales of hedonism and joie du vivre with that of salaciousness and lechery. 

Films
I am Love

Emma, a Russian beauty (played by Tilda Swinton) has built a family with a Milanese industrial tycoon, Tancredi Recchi. Their life runs like an elegant clock but underneath a flimsy veneer, unhappiness reigns. This fragile existence starts to crack when Emma begins to fall for Antonio, a chef and her son’s friend. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, who sublimely captures the microcosms of  life among the northern Italian elite, I am Love explores the theatricalities of keeping up appearances, the eruptive effects of bottled emotions, and the tensions between selfish- and selflessness within humankind.

Barcelona

At the end of the 1980s, Fred, an American working in Barcelona on behalf of the US Navy is unexpectedly paid a visit by his cousin, Ted. The two young men start to blunder their way through the Spanish metropolis, meeting locals and experiencing an array of comically awkward culture clash. Their presence is not always welcome as Ted and Fred represent capitalist and militarist America towards the waning years of the Cold War. The setting allows for a light-hearted portrayal of these serious tensions in the smokey dance bars, cobbled plazas and sweeping boulevards of Barcelona.

The Two Faces of January

Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith (who also penned The Talented Mr Ripley), we follow Chester a con-artist who is touring Greece with his wife, Colette. Whilst in Athens, Chester is accosted by a private detective whom he accidentally murders in the tussle. Now Chester and Colette must find a way to flee the Greek Capital and accept the help of Rydal, a young law graduate whom they hardly know. After hiding the body and obtaining false passports, the trio go on the run together where strange relationships begin to grow like weeds between them. Jealousy, seduction and manipulation ensues as the stakes get higher and the pressure mounts upon them. The visual adaptation of Highsmith’s thriller, is gripping from the start with Athens and the Greek islands making the perfect backdrop for this heightened drama.