Gregory Norminton writes so precisely yet eloquently creating the atmosphere of a place over millennia - his descriptions are visual, sensual and at times disturbing. Each of the three stories uses a different language to immerse the reader in that period and the characters playing out their destinies. As a reader you sink into one tale only to be wrenched into the next and then again the third and the quest to follow each makes the book feel urgent and passionate. I have rarely read a book where my initial reaction on closing the last page is to want to start at the beginning to re-read and re-read again to make the connections within the stories and grapple with the challenges of humanity and it's place and role on the earth thrown out through the book. It's BRILLIANT !