Greg's writing is exquisite, funny, and thought-provoking. He's also a versatile writer who's written about crypto-Jews in Budapest during the Second World War, a contemporary novel about a dysfunctional friendship, and a murder mystery set in 19th-century Paris. I've never read anything by G.S. Johnston that I didn't love.
The Skin of Water is a beautifully constructed novel about a forbidden romance between a crypto-Jew and a servant living in Budapest just before the invasion of 1945. Throughout the entire narrative G.S. Johnston evokes a feeling of borrowed time, moments savored because they are so fleeting, moments that were not supposed to happen, but they did.
