Beginnings...

The Greeks had a word for it: eudaimonia — the good life. Not good in the sense of indulgent, luxurious, happy or pleasurable but rather, in conjunction with arete, in the senses of desirably virtuous, of fulfilment and satisfaction. They were not alone. On every continent the rightness of living has been an abiding issue for all humanity throughout recorded history. Many, with varying degrees of success and acceptance, have spoken or written about how life should be lived. Many more still wonder.

Now, as powers once the sole preserve of mighty nation states are wielded by progressively smaller and smaller entities, as each and every human being perceives how he or she affects the world at large, the question becomes yet more pressing. And so it is asked again: How should we live?

This book does not contain the answer — the question has no ultimate end — but it does offer an answer as the basis for a new beginning. The book is itself a journey — of beginnings and endings and beginning again. Read it and travel — along the way you may remember your own dreams and discover more.

Read it and you will never be the same again. Let it pass unread and still you will be changed. How will you change? The choice is yours.

A Synoptic Appetizer

Fragments of Berossus is the story of two men, The Young Man and The Old Man, who, though separated by thirty years in age and half a lifetime of experience, have one thing in common — hope.

The Old Man has a chequered past. In a distant land he was a soldier, a freedom fighter, a general; then he became The Great Man, who saved a nation from a brutal tyranny, and then... he disappeared. Years later, in another place famed for its civility, he is recognised and accused of a terrible crime of war; after a year-long trial which thousands attend, justice is finally done — then he must journey on and live out his days under the sentence imposed. But The Old Man's days are numbered, and in the time that remains he must right the greatest wrong of all, a folly of youth outweighing even the razing of a once proud city.

The Old Man is responsible for uncountable deaths, but also for saving countless lives; and though he has paid a terrible price for both, in his own eyes he has yet to do right. Returning to the city of his youth after three decades, he finds it much changed, and under the rule of a new Prefect it seems some men are too dangerous to be allowed to speak. The Old Man must become an army of one and fight for his life to say what must be said — to say what should have been said before.

The Young Man's life has barely begun, and with the death of his father and mother, he is free at last to pursue the answer to an old, old question, which takes him on a fantastic journey. Across the desert, into the mountains, and down to a mysterious island he goes, confronting death and madness at every turn. He finds an answer, but he also finds love — yet there is something he must do before he can rest: he must return whence he came and tell his tale. But The Island Woman has a secret too... and she will pay a price for saving The Young Man's life. They both will.

The Old Man's and The Young Man's stories intertwine. 

Two men, one question: How shall I live? Both look to the stars for guidance and inspiration; they each see different things. 

One book, both answers. 

Fragments of Berossus — a philosophical novel with a driving narrative, an epic adventure of ideas... both expressed in the most beautiful language for an age.
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