Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099440733 ISBN 13: 9780099440734

Publisher: Vintage Book / Random House, 2002

With two extraordinary books, THE EMPEROR'S LAST LAND and DAISY BATES IN THE DESERT, Julia Blackburn has pushed the boundaries of non-fiction as far as they will go. IN THE BOOK OF COLOUR she crosses for the first time into fiction and the result is astonishing- a short visionary novel of almost awesome power, a book that changes your view of the world. THE BOOK OF COLOUR is a journey around Julia Blackburn's father and grandfather, set largely in Mauritius. It is a book about childhood, about madness, about the fear of miscegenation - and about a pig. It establishes Julia Blackburn as the most original English writer since Chatwin.

From the Back Cover:

“As a book about the partiality of family history and the peculiar spells of memory, The Book of Colour could hardly be bettered.” -- Observer

“Wandering through dreams and nightmares from Praslin Islands to Mauritius and finally to England, the author unfolds the troubled lives of her forebears, cursed by racial prejudice, sexual inhibition and recurrent mental illness. This is a powerfully and carefully written expurgation of personal feelings, drawing the reader into a landscape like that of a Dali painting.” -- Scotland on Sunday
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the Author:

Julia Blackburn’s most recent book, The Leper’s Companions, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, as was The Book of Colour.