Lucky Cole, the son of a CIA operative in the early years of the Cold War, spends a couple of his teenaged years living on the island of Cyprus when it was still a British colony. In that short space of time, he experiences the terrors of having an alcoholic father who is an ugly, violent drunk, an earthquake that levels the village around him, the brutality of being an Irish-American Catholic in a British boys' school, the loss of young love, a life-threatening illness and the deadly consequences of an independence movement.
But he also falls under the influence of an exceptional private tutor who introduces him to world history and an open mind with a decidedly Cypriot slant, two lovely young girls with whom he falls in love, and the revelation that good people are all around him, whether Greek or Turkish, Orthodox or Muslim or Anglican. He comes to Cyprus a child and leaves a young man.
This is a memoir, but so personal to the author that he needed to write it in the third person to fully express his emotions. While dramatic and touching and sometimes sad, it is also full of episodes that have you laughing out loud, including a kerosene-addicted toddler, adventures with young British soldiers, meeting Cypriot artisans who claim direct lineage with some of Greek history's greatest thinkers, haggling with a Turkish camel driver. Most central to the story is his relationship with Jim, the college-educated, politically involved bicycle shop owner who tutors Lucky, but also mentors him as his family can't, in gaining a wider world view.
Allan Cole, who is a novelist, screenwriter and former reporter really knows how to tell a story to keep a reader emotionally involved. This memoir reads like a novel is many ways. By stepping back into third person, he creates a slight distance that allows the reader to join him in understanding his growth as a person, and yet be entertained thoroughly.
The only flaw in this wonderful book is the formatting caused the loss of a word here and there, but that is not the author's fault. I highly recommend you buy and read this book. Whether you can read it nonstop or in bits and pieces, you will fall in love with Lucky through his journey.
