The Colossus of Maroussi (Penguin Modern Classics)

'Out of the sea, as if Homer himself had arranged it for me, the islands bobbed up, lonely, deserted, mysterious in the fading light'

Enraptured by a young woman's account of the landscapes of Greece, Henry Miller set off to explore the Grecian countryside with his friend Lawrence Durrell in 1939. In The Colossus of Maroussi, he vividly recounts his experiences, including:

• Drinking from sacred springs,
• Nearly being trampled to death by sheep, and
• Encountering the flamboyant Greek poet Katsumbalis, who 'could galvanize the dead with his talk'.

This lyrical classic of travel writing marked an epiphany in Miller's life and is the book he would later cite as his favourite.

'One of the five greatest travel books of all time' — Pico Iyer