Ondaatjes Novel About Love And Confusion Set At The End Of The Second World War Follows A Small Group Of Shell-shocked Characters. In Descriptive Prose Of Spectacular Beauty, He Invents A Desert World Which Is Both Physical And Imaginative. This Is One Of The Few Truly Great Post-war Novels Eileen Battersby, Irish TimesMagnificent... All The Allure Of Early 20th Centur Ondaatjes Novel About Love And Confusion Set At The End Of The Second World War Follows A Small Group Of Shell-shocked Characters. In Descriptive Prose Of Spectacular Beauty, He Invents A Desert World Which Is Both Physical And Imaginative. This Is One Of The Few Truly Great Post-war Novels Eileen Battersby, Irish TimesMagnificent... All The Allure Of Early 20th Century Desert Exploration Is Contained In Ondaatjes Beautiful, Spare Narrative... A Wise And Graceful Book About History Itself, Both The Events That Are Its Raw Material And The Human Values That Shape It Sunday TimesProfound, Beautiful And Heart-quickening Toni MorrisonOndaatje Has Written A Popular Novel, A War Story And Spy Story, Tingling With Mystery And Sexual Tension, Which Is Also A Grave And True Image Of Life Peter Craven, The Age, MelbourneA Magic Carpet Of A Novel That Soars Across Worlds And Times... As Rare And Spellbinding A Net Of Dreams As Any That Has Emerged In Recent Years Pico Iyer, TimeThe Best Piece Of Fiction In English Ive Read Inseveral YearsEdmund White, Independent On Sunday