In Byron´s footsteps

When Tessa de Loo saw Albania for the first time, no foreigners were allowed to enter. Filled with a great curiosity, longing, and a sense of wonderment by this isolated land, de Loo gazed toward the mountains that stood like "the backs of patiently waiting elephantsacross the water from Corfu. Inspired by the famous Thomas Phillips portrait of Lord Byron in Albanian national costume, de Loo stole her way in and found a country suffering the hardships of post-communist reality and the constant and sometimes fractious clash between tradition and modernity. In the tradition of Bruce Chatwin, de Loo, the award-winning author of The Twins, has written a fascinating travelogue and a very personal reassessment of the life and works of Lord Byron.

About the Author

Tessa de Loo: Tessa de Loo (b. 1945) majored in Dutch and taught for several years before making her debut as a writer with the short-story collection ‘The Candy Factory Girls' (Anton Wachter Prize and Gouden Ezelsoor 1984), which became a great success. After this she wrote the novel Meander (1986) and the gift novella for National Book Week 1987 ‘The Burnt Offering'. Following her novel Isabelle (1989). In 1993 her voluminous novel ‘The Twins' appeared, and it has proven her biggest success to date, published to wide critical acclaim and selling over 100,000 in its various editions.