From Publishers Weekly
In this feast for all senses, Stone brings readers into the tiny Greek island world of Patmos in a prose that feels as languid as the pace of the Patmian people. At 33, Stone, a Broadway stage manager, puts $10,000 of an inheritance in the stock market and leaves New York for what he intends to be a five-month stay in Greece, where he would fulfill his dream of writing a novel. But five months quickly turns into love, marriage, two children and several years when he meets Danielle, a 23-year-old French painter. After moving to Rethymnon, Stone teaches English as a second language while Danielle continues to paint until an old Patmian friend, Theologos, phones and invites Stone to become his partner for the summer in his beach taverna, The Beautiful Helen. Leaping at the opportunity, Stone, and a very reluctant Danielle, pack up their two children, a Cuisinart and Stone's many recipes, and return to the island where they fell in love and where they would soon learn the hard lessons that come with Greek traditions, bargaining, the ever-present Evil Eye, and their naive trust in Theologos, known to all as O Lados, "the oily one." This nicely told memoir and travelogue is interspersed with Stone's recipes, sensual descriptions of food and place, and the love of his wife and children.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
When an old acquaintance offers Stone a chance to be part owner and chef of a restaurant on the island of Patmos, he leaps at the opportunity, seeing it as a romantic, profitable summer escape from the drudgery of his teaching job in Crete. Stone turns out to be a success in the kitchen, in part because he supplements the Beautiful Helen's standard Greek menu with diverse dishes, such as Roman spaghetti carbonara and Texan chili. He also becomes infatuated with Patmos' history, famed as the site of St. John's exile and his ecstatic visions of the apocalypse. But what at first seems merely quaint about the natives' ways soon turns sinister as their superstitions become oppressive. Stone's discovery that his Patmian partner has been cheating him out of his share of the restaurant's profits turns the idyllic summer into a nightmare. Despite Stone's deep love for Greek culture and language, he has painted a compelling, but scarcely flattering, portrait of a genuinely insular way of life. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
