Slipping between the menacing dream world of the student's fevered imagination,
and the dark back alleys of the Paris underworld, The Buddha's Return is part de
tective novel, part philosophical thriller, and part love story. In typically cr
isp, unfussy prose, Gazdanov's delicately balanced novel is an irresistibly hypn
otic masterpiece from one of Russia's most talented emigre writers. Gaito Gazdan
ov (1903-1971) joined the White Army aged just sixteen and fought in the Russian
Civil War.
