I loved this. I'm a total sucker for the classics, especially the ancient classics, and The Odyssey is a particular favourite. In Enchanted Islands, the author takes you on an epic journey, a voyage through the eyes of a disenchanted dreamer who puts her fate in the hands of an ancient warrior with the heart of a hero.

I won’t go into the whys and wherefores’ too much, suffice to say the pandemic and all its related angst is at the heart of it. Well, sort of. It also has to do with a broken heart, sadness and helplessness. It has to do with unique perspectives on literature and following in the footsteps of a tragic hero (I ordered a copy of this particular translation of The Odyssey within the first few pages, despite having three at home already!).

I think the reason for this is to grab hold of fistfuls of the enchantment that Laura Coffey brings to life, spinning a tale of whimsy that ultimately makes you wonder what you are missing, or perhaps what you have lost. It's not all doom and gloom though, not at all. The book is eloquently written, poignant and beautiful. It brings Italian sea breezes to life, the feel of the ocean, the taste of the coffee... The longing for something inexplicable, that feeling that always seems to come with an especially lovely sunset.

It is at once a mythological journey and a voyage charted on an ancient map, it is a journey of the heart and the adventure of a lifetime.

Enchanted Islands is a Covid-era travelogue and a brief excursion into Greek myths, but ultimately I think it's really about the author's romantic relationship breakdown and her coping with her father's illness and death.

Unfortunately I was much more interested in the travels and the myths, which were a bit lightly covered for my liking. I wasn't really interested in the author's feelings about pandemics, her ex-boyfriend or grief relating to her father and these were the main themes of the book.

Recommended for people interested in relationships, but less so for readers interested in Greek mythology.

Enchanted Islands by Laura Coffey is a deeply-felt and moving memoir about one woman's journey through loneliness and then grief and how she uses an exploration of travel and mythology to try and feel better.

Enchanted Islands is an incredibly moving and beautiful book.

Captivated by Emily Watson's epic translation of The Odyssey , Laura Coffey uses this as a back drop to this highly personal autobiography.

Set against the back drop of the pandemic and the agonising slow death of her beloved father, Coffey makes the decision to leave the isolation of her London flat and escape to islands in the Mediterranean.

Respectful of the covid situation but with the circuit breaker opportunity to travel , she travels in the 'footsteps ' of Odysseus and his adventures referring to elements of his travels in her prose. Using different historical texts as points of reference she explores the Aeolian Isles, the Adriatic coast and finally the Balearics. Different encounters with uniquely beautiful people draw similarities to characters within the Odyssey.

But this no ordinary travelogue; this is a highly poignant meditation on love, life and death. The journey is certainly a pilgrimage - there is a sense of the spiritual and religious interlinked with the beauty of the natural environment - the movement, mesmerising power and hypnotic quality of the sea is recurring theme drawing Coffey to daily cold swims.

The visceral nature of the prose lays bare the gradual loss of her father- this is incredibly moving. The awareness of the self- all of us as individuals having to encounter loneliness, solitude in different forms and explore ourselves is powerful theme which against the backdrop of the pandemic further heightens the emotional impact of the book.

Laura Coffey has written a very special book; a sense of catharsis permeates and as a reader you feel a slight sense of intrusion into highly personal moments. But it is ultimately, the magical /ethereal /thought-provoking writing that shines through - there is a deep sense of the poetic in the text and the connection with the natural environment is certainly a highlight. The references to the Odyssey are fascinating and opens up a sense of the inquisitive bringing the ancient to recent times.

Enchanted Islands is about a highly personal 'journey' of deep reflection. Maybe we all need to find our own Odyssey's to truly begin to wonder what this thing called "life ' is about .

Highly recommended