A search for the perfect bath

Alexia Brue, visiting a hammam in Paris, feels inspired to open one in New York and, wondering how to go about this, sets off on a tour of baths round the world taking in Turkey, Greece, Russia, Finland, and Japan.

It's a thoroughly delightful, often amusing, account of Alexia's search for the perfect bath. Once started, the book is difficult to put down; by the end, you not only know a bit more about her 'on hold' relationship with Charles, and want to know even more about her fascinating putative business partner Marina, but you have painlessly absorbed as much information as you could want to know about the differing characteristics of a variety of national public baths. Along the way, you will also have met a number of characters who are not easy to forget, and you will have a guide to which baths to use and which to avoid—of not inconsiderable benefit to one visiting Turkey who, like Alexia, is warned to avoid the 'unhygienic' baths in Istanbul.

Cathedrals of the flesh is Alexia Brue's first book, although she has previously written for The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Spa Finder. The book is published in New York by Bloomsbury and is available from a variety of internet sources. Cathedrals of the flesh is also published in the UK by Bloomsbury. The UK edition was reviewed in the Guardian.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Brue, Alexia Cathedrals of the flesh: my search for the perfect bath (Blooms-bury, 2003)