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.
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 9781862077508
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 216 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 18 mm
Athens forms the background of Sofka's writing debut, Eurydice Street, full of insight and humour. It is subtle, penetrating and written with disarming clarity - Cressida Connolly, Vogue
A beguiling blend of autobiography and travel swirled into a portrait of a city and a meditation on Greekness - Sara Wheeler, Daily Telegraph
Zinovieff brings an affectionate and witty eye to the idiosyncrasies - universal smoking, evil eyes, massive midnight dinners - of Greek life - Independent
Remains the best account of today's Greece, with sharp insights into nationalism, terrorism and the Orthodox church - Daily Telegraph
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