Bitter Eden

“A remarkably honest and moving book....Bitter Eden is a beautifully crafted, absorbing read, a careful examination of human relationships, and a rare glimpse into the complexities of life in wartime.”—Booklist

“Such a powerful, melodic, urgent and honest story of suffering, love and survival I have never quite encountered before. This is a jewel of a tale—a vital and raw piece of the true human experience—and it needs to never be forgotten. I am honored to have read it, and will pass it along to many others.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and The Signature of All Things

“Bitter Eden’s love is neither kind nor tame nor ever adorned. The word love is never mentioned, because love—if this is really the name for it—is so spare and brutal and bare-knuckled that the characters themselves aren’t even aware of it. But this book will haunt you, and stay with you, and won’t ever let go, just like the memory of a love that never happened but should have happened continues to exact its toll of misfired hopes and regrets. But the language is not spare and the poetry here, like shards of a broken bottle, is simply everywhere.”—Andre Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name and Alibis

“Bitter Eden is one of those rare books that is both tender and tough, that is a punch to the stomach and a caress to the face. This is an exploration of men in war, and though it rings absolutely true to the experiences of Allied prisoners in the World War II, it also transcends the specific and the historic to be a moving and unsettling chronicle of the ferocious bonds and dangerous conflicts that emerge when any group of men are pushed to extremes. Bitter Eden is earthy and lyrical, caustic and moving. It is a thrilling read.”—Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap

“Afrika explores these relationships in depth, creating a remarkably honest and moving book. Originally published shortly after the author’s death in 2002 and based on his experiences as a POW in WWII, Bitter Eden is a beautifully crafted, absorbing read, a careful examination of human relationships, and a rare glimpse into the complexities of life in wartime.”—Booklist

“Well-seasoned reflections.”—Library Journal, Barbara’s Picks

“A fervent account of the repressed passions in Italian and German POW camps...Proves to be well worth the wait, above all for its chilling account of conditions in the camps.”—The Times (London)

“A powerful story of men driven together by adversity.”—Daily Mail (London)

“Bitter Eden reinvents and rescues that thing called the love story from the knowing, arch exile of the last fifty years with a willful, passionately perverse innocence.”—The Independent (London)