"A sensual book of infatuation and longing, it is also a wonderful journey of melancholia and wistfulness. The book allows us to travel, and it sometimes takes our breath away..."David Matthews"Here's a book for every gay man wondering where his life is heading. Its fragile, melancholic mood resonated beautifully with my own middle-age-crisis state of mind. Part travelogue and part psychoanalysis, The Marble Boy skilfully weaves the protagonist's assessment of his mindset with penetrating examination of his past relationships and lyrical exploration of the often less visited Mediterranean landscape he travels through. Introspective and perceptive, but generally not self-indulgent, beautifully written and compelling; I found it uplifting"CJ"With this novel, the author takes the reader on an odyssey of artistic, sexual and spiritual discovery undertaken by the central character, Edmund Payne, a closeted gay art-master, teaching at a grim, repressive comprehensive school. Following an accusation of an inappropriate relationship with a talented and sensitive art student, Dollimore, Edmund is forced unfairly to resign his post and is released to pursue a long-held dream of travelling through the Mediterranean area to visit ancient Classical sites. An ensuing kaleidoscope of artistic and sexual experiences, encompass this journey. His sexual encounters, some shockingly brutal, but one lyrically life enhancing, are interspersed with visits to draw temple remains or museum-held Kouroi. Coming to terms with his artistic and sexual ambitions and the loss of pervious lovers, the traveler finally reaches a moving resolution at his ultimate island, Amorgos, in the Cyclades. Throughout, the text is interspersed with letters and emails informing his concerned friends of his experiences, which anchor his journey. Anyone who loves Greece will find this assured and finely written novel a nostalgic evocation of that land's scenery and culture, and it must now deservedly join the different genres of travel as well as romantic literature."John Chitty