The Nautilus, a strange building shaped like the chambered shell of the same name, was built in South London in the early 1930s. Designed on Modernist and Utopian principles, it was a haven for a floating community of cosmopolitan refugees, intellectuals and artists.

Now, at the end of the century, only two of the original inhabitants still occupy their chambers - Celeste Zylberstein, joint architect with her late husband of the Nautilus, and Francis Campion, an elderly poet. Gus Crabb, a dealer in bric-a-brac, is the only other resident until, to the Nautilus, like a hermit crab seeking a home, comes Rowena Snow. Of Indian/Scottish parentage, orphaned, without family or friends, Rowena is in search of her own Utopia - or the Heligoland of her childhood imagination.

Heligoland has been shortlisted for
2003 Whitbread Novel Award
2003 Orange Prize for Fiction

***
A very, very, very slow book, almost too sombre to be entertaining. A bit of a fairytale for adults, since you cannot take the characters without a pich of salt. Not a personal favourite, so I'm happy to release the book to the world.

The book goes to the winner of Finnish forum's October book sweeps!

Thank you, pippis! :) Sounds quite interesting, let's see how I like it.