Falling for Icarus: A Journey among the Cretans - Couverture souple

On a windy spring morning in an ancient Cretan village, Rory MacLean fell to earth. His mother had died a few months earlier and a single obsession had risen from his grief: the notion to build a feather-light flying machine. And so, on the island where Daedalus and Icarus had made mankind's maiden flight, MacLean journeyed back to beginnings, back into the Greek myths, and - with the help of his Cretan neighbours and plenty of wine - built a plane and tried to fly. 'Falling for Icarus' is at once a meditation on love, a celebration of the passion for flight and an hilarious, vivid portrait of a village. Its generous and exhilarating characters - Yioryio, the irrepressible cafe owner, dreamy, dying Aphrodite and divine Apostoli, would-be pilot and Greek god in a golden flying suit - restore MacLean's faith in life. Through them, he tells a soaring, moving story about how a dream can transform sadness. Reviews: 'The heart-warming evocation of one man's loving obsession: lyrical, funny, compassionate' - Colin Thubron; 'Touching, funny and informative... MacLean is a wonderfully deft writer' - The Sunday Telegraph; 'An intimate portrait of modern, rural, unheroic but still passionate Crete' - Sunday Times; 'Anyone who loves Crete should enjoy this book. And anyone who does not love Crete is only half alive' - William Palmer, Literary Review; 'A marvellously compelling story by any standards... destined to become a classic' - The Scotsman; 'Unbridled humour, suspense... [characters] spring from the page as if from myth' - Scotland on Sunday

Rory MacLean is a writer, broadcaster, blogger and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His nine books, including UK best-sellers 'Stalin's Nose' and 'Under the Dragon', have challenged and invigorated travel writing, and - according to the late John Fowles - are among works that 'marvellously explain why literature still lives'. He has won awards from the Canada Council and the Arts Council of England as well as a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He has written and presented over 50 BBC radio programmes and worked on movies with Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie. Born in Canada and resident for many years in Britain, Rory now divides his time between London and Berlin. 'Rory MacLean is one of the most strikingly original and talented travel writers of our generation.' - Katie Hickman; Other books by Rory MacLean: Stalin's Nose, The Oatmeal Ark, Under the Dragon, Next Exit Magic Kingdom, Magic Bus, Missing Lives (with Nick Danziger), Gift of Time; www.rorymaclean.com