One great tale broken down into fun and easy to read short stories, containing a lot of funny tergiversations. Although it feels very light to read, the finale reveals a lot of depth. ( )

This book is a collection of short - often very short - stories about the inhabitants of a Greek village. Each story is about some sort of "infamy" - with characters from murderers and thieves to others who live on the margins of society - gypsies, prostitutes, circus folk. It's an easy book to read - the stories are light and laced with black humour and a tinge of magical realism - but overall, it felt like this could have been a book about the residents of any backward Southern European village - it wasn't particularly Greek or particularly rooted in a sense of place. The tone, I think, was affectionate rather than patronising, but ultimately this seemed to me like the sort of book an English person would pack to read on their Mediterranean beach holiday. ( )

Beautiful prose poems of connected stories following the people living and travelling through a poor hill Greek village of the 50's.

They start with a earthquake and end with a flood and mender through the fates of twins, the visit of the Bishop, the crafty escaping criminal, the arrival of the bus. Small incidents but memorable characters and images. Look out for any of his novels and enjoy. ( )