ISLOMANIA is not really about the famous fictional castaway at all - it is more about the place he was forced to make his temporary home, and other places like it. Renowned travel writer Thurston Clarke has long been obsessed with islands, an affliction he calls 'islomania', and his new book is a kind of love letter to these little (and not so little) worlds surrounded by sea.

Beginning with the accepted model for Robinson Crusoe's remote abode, Mas à Tierra in the Pacific, Clarke then takes us on a hugely enjoyable tour of his favourite islands, exploring their geography, history and culture. From George Orwell's Jura, where he wrote '1984', to the beautiful (but slowly sinking) Maldives in the Indian Ocean, this is a book about some of the most curious and evocative places on earth. And over every island falls the shadow of Crusoe, persuading us that islands are more liberating than confining, more contemplative than lonely, more holy than barbaric . . .

brilliant, quite without equal. Thurston Clarke's wisdom and sensitivity radiate from every page. * Simon Winchester *
The best books on islands anyone could want. * FINANCIAL TIMES *
[an] ambitious project...but on the Clarke carries off with great assurance. * SUNDAY TIMES *
an entertaining and often informative read, the perfect escapist material for a damp Sunday afternoon in August. * SUNDAY BUSINESS POST *

Thurston Clarke is a noted travel writer and journalist and the author of nine widely acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction. He has written for VANITY FAIR, OUTSIDE, CONDE NAST TRAVELLER and numerous other magazines and journals.