Bookwitch

It’s a little weird for me to write about a book I most likely won’t read. I don’t think I’ll have the time. But, after having heard Giles Milton talk about his book Paradise Lost last night, I have to report how interesting it sounds.

As for Giles (what is it about that name?), he should be sent straight back to school. To talk about Smyrna, the subject of Paradise Lost. A few history teachers like him, and the world would be a different place. The witch is not very interested in history, but this really sounded fascinating. I will also have to arrange for Doctor Who to pop up here and bring me back to Smyrna before 1922, before it was all destroyed.

It seems the new mayor of London had a great-grandfather who was something ministerial there. Although he came to an unpleasant end. Hemingway, Onassis and Atatürk also have a past in Smyrna, not to mention the matriarch with 250 great-grandchildren. And if you belong to these old Levantine families, you may find that you too have another 150 new second cousins in Australia.