Greece – One for the Weekend

Crete. Historical fiction. A young woman returns to Crete to uncover her mother's past, and her connections with the island off the coast to which those suffering from leprosy were banished. Family sagas, secrets, stigma and broken relationships set against day-to-day cretan life, war and German occupation. A story about how fear and ignorance lead to cruelty, how society treats those in need and what we will do for those we love.

Crete/Naxos/Athens. Ariadne, Princess of Crete and daughter of  King Minos, grows up hearing stories of gods and heroes. But beneath the golden palace something else stirs, the hoofbeats and bellows echoing from the Labyrinth below. Every year it’s captive, the Minotaur - Ariadne's brother - demands blood. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne sees in him her chance to escape. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and it may cost her everything. In a world where women are merely the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to risk everything for love ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?

Crete/London 2019. A recently bereaved artist leaves London to return to her family home in Chania, Crete when her mother is taken ill. At her bedside she hears words which lead her to surface family secrets, to question her identity and which change her relationship with her family, her past, her country and her art. A contemporary story, set against Brexit and a refugee crisis, rooted in Cretan history and stories of German invasion, war and resistance. Inspired in part by real events. Visually vibrant and vivid descriptions of the landscape.

Athens. Historical fiction. 1941 and Greece's political, economic and social systems fall apart as a result of the Nazi occupation. The civil war that follows deepen the divisions within the community and, for one family, polarised political views leave them on different sides of the struggle. A story of political idealism that results in brutal acts, notorious prison islands and a country that is torn apart. A story of the struggle between the desire to live and escape versus political principles and the strength of family bonds, love and friendship.

Crete.1944. Non-fiction. The true story of a hazardous wartime mission. Two Special Operations Executives set out to kidnap a german General in Nazi-occupied Crete sparking a huge manhunt. Based on diaries written at the time.

A retelling of the story of Circe. Rejected by her own kind, she turns to mortals for company and discovers the forbidden skills of witchcraft.  Banished by Zeus to the island of Aiaia, and living a solitary life,  she develops evermore powerful skills and magic.  Visitors to the island must tread carefully as she defies fate, deities and men alike, crossing paths with many familiar figures from Greek legends and shaping her own destiny. Ultimately though, she must choose where she belongs - with Gods or mortals.

Suspense. Athens/Crete. Two men meet in a hotel corridor in Athens and their fates become intertwined. A conman with multiple false identities and on the run with his young wife and a young American drifter looking for adventure. Both trying outwit the other in a game of cat-and-mouse.

A mortal abused by the gods and exiled to a far-flung island with her sisters, Medusa struggles to come to terms to with self-acceptance, complicated by her feelings of rejection and trauma. When the beautiful and charming Perseus arrives on the island, breaking through her isolation, she seizes the unexpected opportunity to open her heart and to love. But she cannot escape the troubles of her past.

Hydra, Saronic Islands.  Contemporary fiction. A scorching hot summer on the idyllic island of Hydra. An impressionable young American strikes up an intense friendship with a young Brit with a reckless streak,  two young women with a long summer of privilege and parties and freedom ahead of them.  When they discover a young man washed ashore they are moved to help him. But their simple plan goes horribly wrong, setting in motion a series of horrific consequences.

Kefalonia. Thriller. Lucy has been imagining the perfect wedding day for as she can remember. With close family and friends gathered on the idyllic Greek island, her moment has almost arrived. But who is the stranger her sister has invited along as an unexpected guest, and what is it that her parents aren't telling her? And then they find the body. And this is most definitely not the day to remember she had planned.

Hydra. 1960. Erica is 18 and ready for freedom when she finds herself immersed in the bohemian community of artists, poets, painters, musicians and writers living on sun-baked Hydra. Seemingly endless summer days, heady nights and tangled lives make for an idyllic existence. But nothing can last forever as flaws and fragilities are exposed. A story inspired in part by the lives of Leonard Cohen and Charmian Clift amongst other notable artists and writers of the time.

Any book set in this location.