Review
'A gripping new novel about ex-pat life in West Africa. A real treat.' --Brigid Keenan, author of Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse
Product Description
West Africa in the early 1990s. Daniel Maddison arrives into the milieu of miscellaneous misfits and mavericks that is the ex-pat commmunity. Rebelling against the confines of diplomatic life, Daniel is drawn towards the people and places that lie beyond the experience of his High Commission colleagues and their endless rounds of cocktail parties, golf and gossip.
Hephzibah Anderson on Up All Night Radio 5 Live Graham Greenish with a bit of Alexander McCall Smith thrown in. Very readable, very humorous a charming first novel.
The Argus ''One of those brilliant books that offers an easy, entertaining read in the first instance, only to worm its way deeper into your mind. A modern Graham Greene fabulous...fictional gold.''
bookgroup.info ''A fascinating novel rich in dialogue with finely and sensitively drawn characters. If you like Armistead Maupin, Graham Greene or Barbara Trapido, you'll love this.''
Choice ''Populated by a cast of miscreants and misfits this debut novel by playwright Eckstein is a darkly comic delight.''
Caroline Smailes ''Evocative, intriguing and with splashes of a modern Evelyn Waugh.''
Bookersatz ''A fantastically well-executed novel...the book is a joy to read. It is intriguing, exciting and just beautifully written.''
Thoughts from Botswana ''A delightful book, likely you ll read it at one sitting it's quite difficult to put down once you're pulled in.''
Jackie Wills I couldn t put this novel down...Eckstein s book will contribute to an important body of fiction written about the continuing relationship between African and European countries. Her background with VSO and now her work in medical ethics ensures that her perspective is informed, intelligent and demanding. This incisive intellect also delivers some fascinating, complex characters who won't necessarily behave the way you expect.
Chez Aspie ''The Cloths of Heaven is a treasure. The scented evenings, heavily weighted with West African heat, seemed to rise from the pages as I read. The characters are unexpectedly real. At times I felt an inkling of what it must feel like to be a stalker; that urge to vicariously experience more of another's life, the reluctance to be parted from them. I felt a slight sense of grief as the novel ended simply because it finished so perfectly and, I wanted to spend more time in their world.''
Britain-Nigeria Educational Trust ''Marvellous on several levels...as good a page-turner as a thriller, with the lingering and satisfying afterglow of the best literary novels. When you ve bought one copy and read it, you will probably find yourself buying more as gifts for friends.''
Hephzibah Anderson on Up All Night Radio 5 Live Graham Greenish with a bit of Alexander McCall Smith thrown in. Very readable, very humorous a charming first novel.
The Argus ''One of those brilliant books that offers an easy, entertaining read in the first instance, only to worm its way deeper into your mind. A modern Graham Greene fabulous...fictional gold.''
bookgroup.info ''A fascinating novel rich in dialogue with finely and sensitively drawn characters. If you like Armistead Maupin, Graham Greene or Barbara Trapido, you'll love this.''
Choice ''Populated by a cast of miscreants and misfits this debut novel by playwright Eckstein is a darkly comic delight.''
Caroline Smailes ''Evocative, intriguing and with splashes of a modern Evelyn Waugh.''
Bookersatz ''A fantastically well-executed novel...the book is a joy to read. It is intriguing, exciting and just beautifully written.''
Thoughts from Botswana ''A delightful book, likely you ll read it at one sitting it's quite difficult to put down once you're pulled in.''
Jackie Wills I couldn t put this novel down...Eckstein s book will contribute to an important body of fiction written about the continuing relationship between African and European countries. Her background with VSO and now her work in medical ethics ensures that her perspective is informed, intelligent and demanding. This incisive intellect also delivers some fascinating, complex characters who won't necessarily behave the way you expect.
Chez Aspie ''The Cloths of Heaven is a treasure. The scented evenings, heavily weighted with West African heat, seemed to rise from the pages as I read. The characters are unexpectedly real. At times I felt an inkling of what it must feel like to be a stalker; that urge to vicariously experience more of another's life, the reluctance to be parted from them. I felt a slight sense of grief as the novel ended simply because it finished so perfectly and, I wanted to spend more time in their world.''
Britain-Nigeria Educational Trust ''Marvellous on several levels...as good a page-turner as a thriller, with the lingering and satisfying afterglow of the best literary novels. When you ve bought one copy and read it, you will probably find yourself buying more as gifts for friends.''
From the Publisher
Sue Eckstein's dramatisation of her novel, The Cloths of Heaven, will be the Radio 4 Woman's Hour drama every day at 10.45am and repeated at 7.45pm, from the 15th to 19th March 2010.
About the Author
Author Sue Eckstein worked for VSO for many years in London, Bhutan and the Gambia. Now a lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, she is also working on a PhD in autobiographical fiction at the University of Sussex. Her plays include The Tuesday Group, first performed in London in 2003, as well as Kaffir Lilies, Laura and Old School Ties all for BBC Radio 4. This is her first novel.
