Life had lost its sweetness. Socrates felt as if he had eaten an accursed apple and was, like Adam, suddenly prone to emotions he had never before experienced - fear, loneliness and shame. For Socrates, growing up in a small, Cypriot village isn't idyllic so much as frustrating. Summer is on the horizon and yet his parents, his teachers and his interfering neighbours seem intent on preventing Socrates and his friends from having any fun. But times are changing and the jasmine-scented breezes mingle with the threat of danger. Behind the facade of respectable island life lurk dark and menacing presences. ''Land of the Golden Apple'' is a bewitching coming-of-age novel about the lives and loves, joys and despairs of a diverse yet tightly-knit community and about how those same ties that bind us can also constrict us...