“Arctic Summer“ is a beautiful biographical novel about E.M.Forster. To be precise, it’s about the period he was struggling with writing “A Passage to India”.

Now, I should add that before reading this book all I knew about Forster was the little I had read in the introduction to “Maurice”. So I cannot exactly judge how accurate this is - yet. I have Wendy Moffat’s biography about Forster lined up - bought from the same wonderful bookshop where this one came recommended (Gay’s the Word in London - if you’re ever there, you must go and buy a book there. Or, if you’re like me, eight.).

Anyway, to come back to this book. It pulled me in from the start, which, to be honest I didn’t quite expect. And Galgut both creates an image of Forster as a person and manages to capture the landscapes he finds himself in in an incredibly vivid way. It was definitely the kind of book where I forgot that I was reading because it felt like I was there with him. I especially liked the way it dealt with the questions of class and race when it came to Forster’s relationships with Masood, Mohammed and Kanaya, and how Galgut shows Forster’s awkwardness, loneliness and longing.

It also made me want to read all of Forster’s other books as well as a proper biography. But mostly I just found it to be a very well-written book, and I’m grateful I discovered it. (And god, sometimes I really struggle with writing halfway decent reviews about books I love. This is such a case.)