Gilgamesh

Joan London

Mar 2004 · Bolinda · Narrated by Deidre Rubenstein

About this audiobook

Edith and Frances, living with their mother on a tiny farm in the south-east of Australia, are visited by their cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend Aram. The two young men are taking the long way home after working on an archaeological dig in Iraq. It is 1937. The modern world they say, is waiting to erupt. Among the tales they tell is the story of Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk, in ancient Mesopotamia. Gilgamesh's great journey of mourning after the death of his friend Enkidu, and his search for the secret of eternal life, is to resonate through all of their lives. In 1939 Edith and her young child set off on an impossible journey of their own, to find themselves trapped by the outbreak of war. The story of this journey is the story of encounters and escapes, of friendship and love, of loss and acceptance.

About the author

Joan Elizabeth London is an award-winning Australian author of short stories, screenplays and novels. She was born in Perth, Western Australia. She graduated from the University of Western Australia having studied English and French, has taught English as a second language and is a bookseller. She is the author of two collections of stories and has published two novels, Gilgamesh and The Good Parents. She lives in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Deidre Rubenstein is regarded as one of Australia's most accomplished actresses. As a stage actress, she has starred in productions with all major Australian theatre companies and has created three highly acclaimed one-woman shows which have toured Australia and overseas. Deidre won an Australian Film Industry (AFI) award for Best Actress in the mini-series Palace of Dreams and is also a multi-award-winning narrator. Audiobooks narrated for Bolinda include Elizabeth Costello by Nobel Prize–winning author J.M. Coetzee, Gilgamesh by Joan London, Elizabeth Harrower novels and various ABC titles.