Book description
People journey to Greece for the ruins, Turkey for the Hagia Sophia,
and Russia for St. Peter's, but Alexia Brue travels with a different
itinerary: to visit the baths. What starts off as an innocent vacation
quickly becomes an obsession, as the author ventures to Turkey,
Greece, Russia, Finland, and Japan to sample the range of bathing
traditions the world has to offer.
Caught up in the tide of travel and exploration and crossing paths
with fellow travellers along the way, Alexia drifts further and
further away from the life she left behind in New York City. Hoping to
find a thriving local bath scene, she dips into hamams, banyas,
saunas, and onsen, finding both disappointment and bliss.
At once deeply personal and highly informative, full of intimacies,
discoveries, and unexpected twists, CATHEDRALS OF THE FLESH is the
candid and playful account of one woman's determination to follow her
passion, ultimately inspiring readers to do the same.
Alexia Brue has written for
The New York Times Magazine
,
Vogue
, and
Spa Finder
. She has a BA in Classics from Grinnell College and lives in New York
City. This is her first book.
