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By the fearless and funny writer, a novel exploring the underbelly of erotic fulfilment and spiritual yearning. Every two years the international art world descends on Venice for the opening of the Biennale. Among them is Jeff Atman, a jaded journalist whose dedication to the cause of Bellini-fuelled party-going is only intermittently disturbed by the obligation to file a story. He is not expecting to meet the spellbinding Laura who will completely transform his few days in the city. Rejuvenated and ecstatic, their romance blossoms quickly, but is it destined to disappear just as rapidly? Every day thousands of pilgrims head to the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi, the holiest Hindu city in India. Among their number is a narrator who may or may not be the Atman previously seen in Venice. Intending to visit only a few days, he ends up staying for months. In a romance he can only observe, he sees a reflection of the kind of pleasures that, willingly or not, he has renounced. In the process, two ancient and watery cities become versions of each other but could they actually be one and the same story? This story of spiritual yearning reaches its conclusion amidst the ghats of Varanasi. 'Dead-on in evocation of place, longing, and the possibility of neurotic enlightenment.' 'Very funny, full of nerve, gutsy and delicious.' - Michael Ondaatje. Paperback, 305pp.