The Murderess is a bone-chilling tale of crime and punishment with the dark beauty of a backwoods ballad. Set on the dirt-poor Aegean island of Skiathos, it is the story of Hadoula, an old woman living on the margins of society and at the outer limits of respectability. Hadoula knows about herbs and their hidden properties, and women come to her when they need help. She knows women’s secrets and she knows the misery of their lives, and as the book begins, she is trying to stop her new-born granddaughter from crying so that her daughter can at last get a little sleep. She rocks the baby and roc... continue
Commissar Haritos would rather be out on the street with all the other Athenians, celebrating Greece's victory in the European football championships. But he is otherwise engaged. Everywhere he looks, there's something afoot – and even a detective of Haritos' ilk cannot enforce the law everywhere. Most of the characters in these ten stories have to do that themselves – in their own way. They have come from the Balkans in search of a better life: of work, money, a little bit of luck. Hardly any of them dares to dream, however, of finding a new home. Certainly not the ... continue