Arctic Summer

Against the backdrop of a world in flux at the start of a new century, Arctic Summer portrays the life of British writer E.

M. Forster: his inner turmoil, his search for love and the story behind one of the greatest novels in English, A Passage to India.

In 1912, Forster follows his friend Syed Ross Masood to India.

It is on this journey - travelling around the country while it is still under British rule - that the seeds of his novel are planted.

But it will be another twelve years, and a second time spent in India, before his book is published.

Between these two journeys lie the writing of an unpublishable novel, the outbreak of the FirstWorld War, and a long stay in Alexandria, where he has an unlikely affair with an Egyptian tram conductor.

As we follow Forster across continents - stuttering, aching, his love mostly unrequited - Galgut captures with colour and exquisite delicacy the England, India and Egypt of the era.

Meticulously researched, Arctic Summer conjures the figure of Forster in all his contradictory genius, providing a fascinating glimpse into the creation of a masterpiece