Fabulous FIction Firsts #334

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 4:27pm by muffy

The Green Shore opens in Athens, on an April evening in 1967, when a military coup in Greece ushered in a period of devastating brutality and repression. Told from the multiple perspectives of one family that share strong political conviction, it is "a family saga and revolutionary romance."

Eleni, a widowed doctor, struggles with the latest challenge to democracy when the hospitals are forbidden to treat torture victims. While son Taki chooses to emigrate, 21 year-old Sophie, a student of French literature, gets swept up in the dangerous resistance movement, partly inspired by her uncle (Eleni's brother) the poet Mahalis. The youngest, Anna, watches events unfold with increasing anxiety.

"As Eleni's family and their circle of friends and lovers fight for their ancient country's history, tradition, beauty, and future, they also discover hidden strengths and harbor secret longings that will have unforeseen repercussions. Deeply imbued with the passion and honor synonymous with Greek culture, abundant with sensuous imagery and stimulating discourse, this debut novel is a sumptuous and provocative portrait of the nexus of the personal with the political."

Debut novelist Natalie Bakopoulos is a graduate and current faculty of the University of Michigan. A recipient of a 2010 O. Henry Award, a Hopwood Award, and Platsis Prize for Work in the Greek Legacy, she is a contributing editor for the online journal Fiction Writers Review. Each summer she teaches creative writing at the Aegean Arts Circle in Andros, Greece.

On Tuesday, June 5th @ 7 pm, Natalie Bakopoulos will be at Nicola's Books for a reading and signing of her novel. For more info.