Reflections on Blue Water

Offers a deft and deceptively airy set of literary wanderings through a part of the Mediterranean - the islands of the south-western coast of Italy - the author had known since being demobilised from the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War. 'To describe Alan Ross as a polymath does scant justice to the eclecticism of an extraordinary man . . . Ross was a war hero, poet, bon viveur, travel writer, incorrigible gossip, racehorse owner and brilliant magazine editor.' Richard Whitehead, Observer'This valedictory volume is the quintessence of [Alan] Ross, a deft and deceptively airy set of literary wanderings through a part of the Mediterranean - the islands of the south-western coast of Italy - he had known since being demobilised from the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War... Ross's memoir is a showcase for a supremely poetic sensibility, and a naturally gifted writer with an unerring eye for detail, reporting on his experience with an infectiously joyous lyricism.' Eldon King, Observer'A fund of associative literary information that could only have been amassed by a passionate reader. Gorky, Ibsen, Rilke, DH Lawrence, Walter Benjamin, Pablo Neruda and scores more wrote in or near Ischia; Ross describes their books and their lives with detailed succinctness, en route dipping in and out of his own thoughts and travel observations.' Helen Simpson, Guardian