Product Description

Sofka Zinovieff had fallen in love with Greece as a student, but little suspected that years later she would, return for good with an expatriate Greek husband and two young daughters. This book is a wonderfully fresh, funny, and inquiring account of her first year as an Athenian. The whole family have to get to grips with their new life and identities: the children start school and tackle a new language, and Sofka's husband, Vassilis, comes home after half a lifetime away. Meanwhile, Sofka resolves to get to know her new city and become a Greek citizen, which turns out to be a process of Byzantine complexity. As the months go by, Sofka's discovers how memories of Athens' past haunt its present in its music, poetry, and history. She also learns about the difficult art of catching a taxi, the importance of smoking, the unimportance of time-keeping, and how to get your Christmas piglet cooked at the baker's.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52048 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 276 pages

The Independent
‘Zinovieff brings an affectionate and witty eye to the idiosyncracies- universal smoking, evil eyes, massive midnight dinners- of Greek life'

Betrams Summer Reading catalogue
'A wonderfully evocative account of moving to Athens'

The Independent (50 Best Books for Summer)
'Perfect for that Greek island paradise'

Customer Reviews

Required reading for anyone interested in Greece
Anyone moving to Greece or interested in finding out more about the contemporary country should read this book. The author, newly ensconced in Athens, takes the reader on the voyage of discovery through Greek customs, etiquette, culture and modern history that she herself has embarked upon.

As a Greek myself, I can vouch for the accuracy of her observations. She pinpoints precisely the things I love and hate about the old country, and does so in a way that is measured, yet passionate - and never less than engaging and articulate.

Charming, ironic, addictive
A must-read for everyone who is fascinated by Greece and wants to have a real feeling of how it looks today. The book is extremely well written, keen, full of humour and definitely addictive. I would have loved to have 100 pages more to go.
Bravo! to the author.

A totally beguiling book
Funny, fascinating, very moving, honest, brave, resourceful, original, intrepid, incredibly readable, very well informed, generous, warm-hearted, clever, candid, engaged with a Greek world which the author loves, doubts, queries and cherishes. Sofka Zinovieff has brought off an incredibly difficult thing in this book: integrating her own hopes and fears with those of her chosen country, making one story of their different pasts and their shared present, and all with such grace and life.