This turned out to be a little gem, and one of those books that make you feel as though you have read something important. At first I thought it was going to be one of those books that are beautifully written, but never really goes anywhere, but the further you go, the deeper it gets. As the title suggests, its an imaginary tale and it is about the poet Ovid during the time of his life when he was in exile. David Malouf tells the reader in his notes at the end that very little is know about Ovid's life, so he had plenty of scope to make it up any way he wished but the environment feels very real. There are no real markers in the book, so you don't know the exact date when the story takes place, and you don't know where he has found himself, and that helps because as a reader you don't start padding the narrative out with detail that you think you know. Everything is as new to you as it is to Ovid. He is living in a compound with an extend...