Cypria - by Alex Christofi

About the Book

An evocative and lyrical history of Cyprus and the Mediterranean.

Book Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2025

"A brilliant exploration of Cyprus's long history of cultural resilience. Superbly composed." -- Guardian

One of National Geographic's Summer Reads 2024

Think of a place where you can stand at the intersection of Christian and Arab cultures, at the crossroads of the British, Ottoman, Byzantine, Roman and Egyptian empires; a place marked by the struggle between fascism and communism and where the capital city is divided in half as a result of bloody conflict; where the ancient olive trees of Homer's time exist alongside the undersea cables which link up the world's internet.

In Cypria, named after a lost Cypriot epic which was the prequel to The Odyssey, British Cypriot writer Alex Christofi writes a deeply personal, lyrical history of the island of Cyprus, from the era of goddesses and mythical beasts to the present day.

This sprawling, evocative and poetic book begins with the legend of the cyclops and the storytelling at the heart of the Mediterranean culture. Christofi travels to salt lakes, crusader castles, mosques and the eerie town deserted at the start of the 1974 war. He retells the particularly bloody history of Cyprus during the twentieth century and considers his own identity as traveler and returner, as Odysseus was.

Written in sensitive, witty and beautifully rendered prose, with a novelist's flair and eye for detail, Cypria combines the political, cultural and geographical history of Cyprus with reflections on time, place and belonging.

Review Quotes

"Engaging, vigorous and at times passionate...Christofi offers a personal account as well as a carefully-annotated history. Rich in curious information." --David Abulafia, Times Literary Supplement

"From ancient myth to modern militarism, a brilliant exploration of Cyprus's long history of cultural resilience. Superbly composed." --Steven Poole, Guardian

"A remarkable book about a beautiful island that has lain in the path of every Mediterranean storm. Christofi is a witty and elegant guide to Cyprus's history.
" --Literary Review

"An engaging portrait of Cyprus's variegated and sometimes troubled past." --Country & Town House Magazine

"In this finely crafted new history of Cyprus, Christofi tells a remarkable story of an island where Christian and Arab cultures meet at a crossroads of empires, British, Ottoman, Byzantine, Roman and Egyptian. A lyrical account of a divided place that is in a way a microcosm of the European 20th century, but with olive trees." --The New European

"In poetic prose, Cypria tells a wide-ranging national story. Christofi makes a compelling case for Cyprus as a uniquely clear vantage point from which to view the birth of the modern world." --Pippa Bailey, New Statesman

"In this beautifully-written book, Alex Christofi tells of the contradictions that make Cyprus so fascinating, an island as ageless as its olive trees and contestations over its historical memory." --Marc David Baer, author of The Ottomans

"Christofi sees Cyprus from both the inside and outside, as a returnee and a traveller. The result is a modern, original book that reinvigorates writing about place in an arresting, lucid, and connected way. It puts the island back in the middle of the map, brought to life in Christofi's always beautiful, erudite prose." --Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

"Clear, erudite and wonderfully affable, Christofi's ability to fuse his own family's relationship to Cyprus with that of its wider history, makes Cypria a necessary and illuminating read. Warm, poised and informative, Christofi's reach is expansive, bringing Cyprus into sharper focus without jettisoning or shying away from complex and sometimes unpleasant aspects of its recent past." --Anthony Anaxagorou, author of After the Formalities

"This beautifully-written book is a delight from start to finish, with gems on every page. Alex Christofi is a fond yet even handed guide to Cyprus. If you have never been this book will make you want to go." --James Barr, author of Lords of the Desert

"Alex Christofi's new book offers readers a thoughtful, unexpected look at Cyprus's history." --Inside Hook's Ten Books You Should Be Reading This July

"[Alex Christofi] brings a novelist's eye to the subject, and a turn of phrase to leave the academic historians in the dust... It's a book that has the unmistakable whiff of a quality piece of publishing and has clearly been a labour of love." --Neill Denny, BookBrunch

"Cypria is an impressively wide-ranging history of a fascinating island, written with a grace and lightness of touch that still manages to convey much of the bitterness of Cyprus's recent past. It is a book to be enjoyed on a hot summer's day...but also to be pondered when darker nights draw in." --The Critic

"This is an entertaining and well-researched history of the island." --Balkan Wargamer

"Hippos[...]along with dwarf elephants, used to roam the island of Cyprus, one of many pleasing facts in Alex Christofi's Cypria. Blending millennia of history with modern-day travelogue, the author covers the island as both the birthplace of Stoicism and a centre of the war trade, from the forging of Alexnader the Great's favourite sword to its present use as a platform for RAF jets." --Guardian's best books of 2024

About the Author

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld and author of four books published in 12 languages, including the novels Let Us Be True and Glass, winner of the Betty Trask Prize for fiction. He has written for numerous publications including the Guardian, London Magazine, and the White Review. Dostoevsky in Love was named as a Literary Non-fiction Book of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times.