2023/048: Delphi — Clare Pollard

2023/048: Delphi — Clare Pollard

In the parks of South-East London there are always feral green parakeets. Somehow I find myself telling Sophie’s glazed face about the parrot astrologers of Tamil Nadu who are trained to pick fortune cards. ‘A bit like that psychic octopus, Paul, you know, who could predict the World Cup results,’ I say, as she passive-aggressively tops up her own Prosecco. [loc. 760]

The narrator of Delphi, an unnamed academic and translator, is researching prophecy in the ancient world for her next book. She and her husband have booked a family trip to Delphi at Easter: unfortunately, it's beginning to look as though they'll have to cancel, because this is spring 2020 and, unforetold, the Covid pandemic is under way.

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