Everyone has that one great story inside them and for Lukas, this is most definitely it. This story for me hit a note on many personal levels, having heard the trials and tribulations of relatives marriages and relationships from that time period, I was able to imagine reliving parts of their histories and lives of that era and the mentality that existed towards such a scandalous event such as premarital sex and divorce. I found myself enthralled not only by the culture of Greek villages and lifestyles, where much of it can still be found today in remote Greek villages, but also the history of wartime and it’s after effects in Greece. It is beautifully written and follows how society can have such high expectations and how forcing those beliefs upon someone can unravel in dire consequences. Lukas is able to paint a beautiful Greek landscape, idyllic and hopeful during the lover’s youthful relationship in prewar times. Eventually, their relationship grew starkly gray, scattered with resentment and violence during wartime which paralleled the political climate of the time and signaled the downward spiraling of the couple’s relationship. Imagine living in a place and time where you and half a village know that your spouse wants to kill you and who is openly trying to find your assassin, but somewhere the psyche still demands to keep a pretense of marital pride and personal reputation over survival. I often found myself wondering if she stayed out of guilt for her initial shocking and disgraced beginnings with him, actual love for him, a hollow resignation of his abuses towards her, or did she simply not give serious consideration to her situation.
Inevitably, the worst happened. The defendant is a narcissist from beginning to end with very few soft spots. In fact, one such humble moment that garnered some sympathy from me was when he directly to ‘help’ the author when he was a boy after he was accused of his crime. It was one of the few moments in the book that he was portrayed just as a man rather than a player, a monster, an abuser, a charmer or a cheater that he consistently proved to be. The impact and disappointment perceived in such a fall from grace of a boy’s hero are apparent throughout the book. What follows are a couple of very intense publicly waged court cases. The idyllic town becomes animated with all of the characters taking sides and having strong opinions on the matter.
The book was written as a tribute to the author’s aunt, however by the end of the book I found that it was much more than that. It was a tribute not only to his father as well but also to the townsfolk themselves; family, neighbors, lovers, friends, enemies and the town priest all come alive, sometimes in a dysfunctional fashion, the way they really would in a small knit community that feels like a large extended family.

Well written, the family member characterisations were beautifully done. Sad and poignant true story of a woman who could not see the evil lurking in her husband, and ultimately paid a terrible price.