Heligoland

<p><b>LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE</b><Br><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE AND COSTA BOOK AWARDS</b></p><p><b><i>At her first sight of the Nautilus, it was as if the lustre of the building filled her heart and ran through her veins.</i></b></p><p>Stranded in suburban London, the Nautilus is an eccentric Modernist house built as a haven for bohemian artists, intellectuals and refugees. Now the Nautilus is past its heyday, its residents few and agein Celeste, a hippie architect-turned-activist; Francis, a poet of a bygone era; and bric-a-brac dealer Gus Crabb.</p><p>And then comes Rowena Snow. She has always been an outsider: an Indian orphan raised in Scotland, a lover of poetry shut out of intellectual circles. Rowena turns up at the Nautilus' door, anxious but curious, like a hermit crab seeking a home - searching for her own utopia.</p><p><b>'Elegant, elusive . . . The writing is superb' </b><i>GUARDIAN</i><Br><b><Br>'A national treasure . . . She has achieved that rarest of things for a writer' </b><i>DAILY TELEGRAPH</i><Br><b><Br>'Tender, funny and wonderfully realised' </b><i>SUNDAY EXPRESS</i></p>