Marches of Levant, The

Dimitri returns to the newly ‘independent’ British colony of Cyprus in 1968. Partition has begun, ending the age-old amity with Turkish Cypriots. The struggle for a union with Greece has faded. Personal wealth and social advancement are key. Politics has turned divisive. Dimitri attempts to rediscover the integrity of the island through his family, friends old and new, and uncovering the medieval past of the island. Compromised and tempted at work, he watches helplessly as a civil war, military coup and invasion blows his world apart. Condemned as a communist, he joins battle as an irregular, and witnesses his country’s descent into the violence and heartbreak that has marked the end of empires from Palestine to Afghanistan. Avoiding nationalistic rhetoric and bombast, Marches of the Levant describes Cyprus accurately as poised on the edge of Europe, intrinsically a part of it, yet treading a thin line between East and West. It describes the weakness of nations and individuals at times of national chaos. It makes the story of Cyprus at the end of empire clear and present as never before.