Sex is Forbidden

Trauma leaves Beth with no alternative but to bury herself in the austere asceticism of a community that wakes at 4am, doesn't permit eye contact or speech, and keeps men and women segregated. But the curious self dies hard, and the more Beth yearns for purity, the more she feels desire. Setting western individualism against Buddhist belief, THE SERVER is both riveting and highly entertaining.

Born in Manchester, Tim Parks grew up in London and studied at Cambridge and Harvard. In 1981 he moved to Italy where he has lived ever since. He is the author of novels, non-fiction and essays, including Europa, Cleaver, A Season with Verona and Teach Us to Sit Still. He has won the Somerset Maugham, Betty Trask and Llewellyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He lectures on literary translation in Milan, writes for publications such as the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, and his many translations from the Italian include works by Moravia, Calvino, Calasso, Tabucchi and Machiavelli.

About Tim Parks