Immersed in history and myth, Damian Le Bas explores the meaning we find in sunken ruins around the world
Thousands of years ago, an island off the Straits of Gibralter went to war with ancient Athens. The battle was lost, and an earthquake cleaved the land in two. Overnight the island sank beneath the waves - or so legend tells.
As a young boy, Damian Le Bas was captivated by the lost city of Atlantis. Even as an adult, he dreams about diving amid its ancient ruins, observing with his own eyes the remnants of an era that still reverberates in our own.
After the death of his father, torn between his lifelong desire and the taboo his Romany culture places on the ocean, he comes by chance across a dive shop. He can't help but go in.
Under the waves he enters a breathtaking world. As he masters the skills of this dangerous sport, diving with seals in the Faroe Islands, exploring submerged Roman ruins in Naples and mapping the sunken city of Port Royal in Jamaica, he is entranced anew, by wonders both manmade and natural.
Atlantis - from its first account by Plato, to the explorers who searched in vain and the discovery that might finally solve its mystery - takes on a new shape in Damian's quest. At once a spellbinding love letter to diving, The Drowned Places is also a profound examination of the power that myth has over us, and what happens when it crosses over into reality.
'The most compelling and evocative of underwater odysseys' KATE HUMBLE
'Breathtakingly good' TRISTAN GOOLEY
'The most captivating book on diving that I have ever read' MENSUN BOUND
Entranced by history and myth, captivated by the wonders of nature, Damian Le Bas explores the meaning we find in sunken ruins around the world
Thousands of years ago, an island off the Straits of Gibraltar went to war with Athens. The battle was lost, and overnight the island sank beneath the waves - or so legend tells.
As a boy, Damian Le Bas was captivated by the story of Atlantis. As an adult, he dreams of diving to discover its ruins. After the death of his father, torn between his lifelong desire and the taboo Romany culture places on the ocean, he comes across a dive shop. He can't help but go in.
Under the waves, Damian enters a breathtaking world. As he masters the skills of this exhilarating sport, diving with seals in the Farne Islands, exploring submerged Roman ruins in Naples and mapping the sunken city of Port Royal, he is entranced by wonders both man-made and natural.
Plato's writings on Atlantis were a parable about the hubris of humankind; in witnessing our effects on oceans and ocean communities, Damian finds echoes of this in the modern world.
A spellbinding love letter to diving, The Drowned Places is also a profound examination of the power that myth has over us, and what happens when it crosses over into reality.
