Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Fotini Tsalikoglou

The Secret Sister

Cover: The Secret Sister - Fotini Tsalikoglou

Fotini Tsalikoglou

The Secret Sister

2015, pp. 128, Paperback
ISBN: 9781609452452
Translated by: Mary Kitroeff
Region: Greece
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
£ 8.99

The book

The past is never over. It isn’t even past.

For Jonathan, a third generation Greek American who has never set foot in his ancestral homeland, a journey to crisis ridden contemporary Greece will unleash a century of buried family secrets.

From the burning quay at Smyrna to present day Manhattan, the Argyriou family has been pursued by disaster. In the 1922 Greco-Turkish War, little Frosso and her sister Erasmia flee as Turkish soldiers descend on their village. Orphaned and destitute, the two girls have only each other to rely on as they scrape together a life in the immigrant slums around Athens. Eighteen years later, Europe is stewing and Frosso is offered a chance for a new life in America by her fiancé Menelaos. Compelled to leave by the impending war, Frosso boards the ship “New Greece” with a heavy heart, but before the ship reaches harbor her grief takes hold and Frosso throws herself into the ocean. A forlorn Menelaos returns to Greece and marries his beloved’s sister, Erasmia, and the couple eventually settles in New York. They bestow on their only daughter the haunted name of her departed aunt but the burden of family history ultimately destroys Frosso and compels her son Jonathan to uncover the shadowy history of the Argyriou family.

Fotini Tsalikoglou’s poetic, atmospheric novel explores the blurred line between history and memory. Psychologically complex and deeply moving, The Secret Sister is a brilliant mediation on the irrepressible need for people to tell stories.

The author

Fotini Tsalikoglou
Born in Athens, Greece, Fotini Tsalikoglou studied psychology at the University of Geneva. She is Professor of Psychology in Athens and the author of many celebrated novels published in Greece, including Eros Pharmakopoios, I Dreamed I Was Well, and I, Martha Freud. The Secret Sister is her English language debut. Email: fotini.tsalikoglou@gmail.com

Reviews

Books by region

  • Cover: The Passenger: Greece - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: Greece

    2020, pp. 192, £ 18.99
    “On the Greek island of Ikaria, life is sweet... and very, very long. What is the locals’ secret?” from The island of Long Life by Andrew...
  • Cover: Seven Lives and One Great Love - Lena Divani

    Lena Divani

    Seven Lives and One Great Love

    2014, pp. 160, £ 9.99
    Sugar recounts his days and nights spent with Miss Sweetie in a novel that fits squarely into the illustrious tradition of feline literature a la...
  • Cover: Back to Delphi - Ioanna Karystiani

    Ioanna Karystiani

    Back to Delphi

    2013, pp. 320, £ 10.99
    This ambitious and magnificent work of literary fiction is a return to the origins of Greek tragedy, a story about guilt and innocence, about the...
  • Cover: Swell - Ioanna Karystiani

    Ioanna Karystiani

    Swell

    2010, pp. 256, £ 13.99
    A sweeping saga about love and hope set in modern-day Greece, Swell is Karistiani’s most moving and gripping novel yet.

More suggestions

  • Cover: The Postcard - Anne Berest

    Anne Berest

    The Postcard

    2024, pp. 480, £ 9.99
    A moving novel based on the true story of a familys endurance and pain, and a heartfelt exploration of Jewish identity in a secular society...
  • Cover: The Throne - Franco Bernini

    Franco Bernini

    The Throne

    2024, pp. 384, £ 14.99
    Machiavelli is famous the world over, but who was he before he penned The Prince?
  • Cover: Paradises Lost - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Paradises Lost

    2024, pp. 480, £ 14.99
    The beginning of a unique adventure, the tremendous challenge of recounting the history of humanity.
  • Cover: Fifteen Wild Decembers - Karen Powell

    Karen Powell

    Fifteen Wild Decembers

    2024, pp. 288, £ 9.99
    A creative re-imagining of the short life of Emily Brontë, one of England’s greatest writers
  • Cover: The Postcard - Anne Berest

    Anne Berest

    The Postcard

    2023, 786 min., £ 20.99
    A moving novel based on the true story of a familys endurance and pain, and a heartfelt exploration of Jewish identity in a secular society...
  • Cover: The Postcard - Anne Berest

    Anne Berest

    The Postcard

    2023, pp. 480, £ 18.99
    A moving novel based on the true story of a familys endurance and pain, and a heartfelt exploration of Jewish identity in a secular society...