A Journey to Mount Athos

In his own preface to this remarkable novel, Augieras describes its theme as "a sojourn in the Land of Spirits, according to the strictest Buddhist or Phythagorean orthodoxy". One might equally well describe it as a kind of Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress, with the protagonist's wanderings mirror-ing his journey towards spiritual enlightenment.

Among his best-loved novels, A Journey to Mount Athos not only expands upon all the themes Augieras introduced before in The Sorcerer's Apprentice-the immortality of the spirit, God, magic in the natural world, reincarnation, homosexuality-it also tells us more about the author himself, as the work was inspired by his retreats to Mount Athos and the time he spent with the Orthodox monks.