Product Description

The humorous and sometimes bittersweet story of a man in love with a place, a woman and a dream - part memoir, part travelogue with recipes - for fans of Frances Mayes and Peter Mayle. The place was Patmos, the tiny Greek island where St.John received the apocalyptic vision recorded in the Book of Revelations and Tom Stone wrote his first novel. The woman was a French painter, his wife, Danielle. The dream was to return there for one last summer with Danielle and their two young children. A telephone call from a Patmian friend, Theologos, offered Stone the opportunity to go into partnership in his restaurant, a beach taverna named The Beautiful Helen. He jumped at the chance, much to the dismay of his wife, who wisely believed in the old adage about not trusting Greeks bearing gifts. No longer a tourist, Stone quickly learned hard lessons about Greek skills at bargaining and their use of the Evil Eye. Not only did he struggle to run a restaurant that closed at three a.m. and opened for fishermen at seven, he was also forced to come to the painful realisation that Theologos was cheating him out of thousands of dollars. Yet there were many joys: the beauty of the island, the friendships with both the natives and foreigners he had come to know over the years, the yachts that arrived from Mykonos for dinner and the support of his family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153792 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Tom Stone was a Broadway stage manager and assistant director for ten years before he moved to Greece, after twenty-two years of paradise and heartache he moved to London and finally California. He has published a novel and several books about Greece and has six screenplays under option.

Customer Reviews

Find your own kefi !!!
This book is a very humorous and well written story of a man in love with a place, and of his dreams to be a world famous restauranteur. Patmos, the tiny Greek island famed for St.John's Book of Revelations, just off Samos and requiring several hours journey by boat to get there is where Tom Stone wrote this his second novel. He is given the chance to go into partnership in a taverna on a beach named 'The Beautiful Helen'-after the former wife of its current owner . He took the opportunity, against the advice of his wife, and friends, and changed roles from tourist to cook. Taking his wife and two small children with him he was no longer able to while away his time being "the host" and drinking into the wee small hours, but had to work hard in the kitchen, developing varicose veins into the bargain. Closing the restaurant in those wee small hours, falling into bed and sleeping for a while then opening again for the fishermen at seven.
Despite the relentless hard work the book tells of many joys: the changing beauty of the island, friendships with islanders and foreigners he had known over the years, descriptions of island life, festivals , parties and traditions, and the people that Tom has had the fortune to get to know in the many years he has been there, yachts that arrived from nearby Mykonos for dinner and the everlasting support of his long suffering wife and family.
The book tells of this one summer - a time of change and of learning just who your friends are and a time of growing up for Tom. It was a very pleasant compulsive read, one that I found hard to put down and that I wanted to finish and savour along with all of the lovely foods so vividly described. I wanted to taste the cool tzatziki, the fiery chilli and the sticky pickled quince and wash it all down with endless glasses of retsina. Above all I wanted to find my own kefi on my own greek island taverna!

Pleasant holiday read
This is an enjoyable and well written personal account of the author's experiences of Patmos and the people he met and worked with. I think some people go over the top with the reviews on many of these books set in holiday destinations, because they love Greece and aspire to have this type of experience. It is a pleasant read and quite evocative but thats all.

A perfect read for a Greek beach (or any beach!)
This superbly written tale of hope, adventure, aspiration, disappointment and final triumph is quite simply one of the best travel 'reads' around - I sat on a beach in Crete last week and read it in one go! Tears on the way as I rad it but it left me with sense of real hope as someone who one day hopes to emulate Stones travel - the descriptions of the food are responsible for my expanded waste line! Don't miss it - Brilliant!