Siren Land

Weaving the myths of the Sirens into the landscape and history of the island of Capri, Siren Land focuses on the legends and archaeology, folklore and daily life, patron saints, local ghosts, wine and the wind of the region. Norman Douglas, one of the 20th century's great travellers in Italy, was for most of his life inextricably, passionately, connected to the Bay of Naples. This breath-taking sweep of sea and coastline - dominated by Vesuvius and with Pozzuoli and Sorrento standing sentinel - was Douglas' first experience of Italy. It was here, on the island of Capri, that he died, some 55 years after first buying a villa in Naples. Siren Land, Douglas' first travel book, is a homage to a part of the world that captivated him more than any other. Douglas writes with knowledge and an irrepressible exuberance of the past and the present, of legends and archaeology, folklore and daily life, patron saints, local ghosts, wine and the wind. As the summer draws to a close, Douglas' prose becomes suffused with a melancholy tinged with excitement at what still remains to be discovered: 'relics of Roman rule, of old Hellas, or medieval romance... These are the delights of Siren Land'.