This is a gem of a little book – l40 pages – both to read and to
look at.
The author is a prize-winning Canadian book-designer, which means
that every detail, from the charming cover design to the type-face, is
a pleasure to handle. The novel is a love-story, between two suitably
named London artists: Ambrose Zephyr and Zappora (called Zipper)
Ashkenazi , who work in the advertising and fashion businesses
respectively. Their names complete the alphabet, and that is the way
they feel about their relationship – complete.
Their happy existence in a Victorian terrace house near Kensington
Gardens is shattered one day when Ambrose, just turned fifty, goes for a
medical and gets the news he has only one month left to live. In
desperation they set off on an alphabetical trip of Europe:
Amsterdam..Berlin..Chartres… Their adventures are fun,
witty ,offbeat. They get to the Pyramids, then Istanbul , and
suddenly plans change and they turn abruptly for home.
The cover describes the book as a “deeply romantic story about an
everyday life defined by an extraordinary love” -and it is right.
Review by Anne McDougall