Why a Booktrail?
WW2: Wonderful descriptions of Crete that only someone with a passion for Crete could write. But the clouds of war are looming…
The House of Dust and Dreams
What you need to know before your trail
Greece 1936. A young British diplomat and his wife have been posted to Athens. Hugh loves the life there but his spirited and unconventional wife, Evadne, less so.
When Hugh is sent to Crete to sort out a problem, they stay in a rundown house owned by his family. Now it is she who falls in love with the place and so when Hugh returns to his duties, she stays on. She makes friends and for a moment life is good.
But the dark clouds of war are gathering and life on the island will never be the same again.
Travel Guide
This is the untold story of Crete’s resistance in WW2 to German and Italian invasion.
Brenda Reid captures the spirit and history of Crete too, mixing it with the grit of the islands people. The sadness and desolation left behind by war contrast with the sunny climate and scenery for this doesnt look like any war scene.
It’s 1936 when Hugh and Evadne arrive on Crete for their honeymoon, two years after their wedding. Hugh’s family has owned a house on the island which they go to stay in but it’s Evadne who falls in love with the house and its surroundings.
She stays here whist diplomat Hugh returns to his work in Athens and this is when the island really starts to shine for her. To outsiders, her husband has left her alone to renovate the house and some of them find this hard to understand.
Anthi is a Cretan farmer’s wife and the second narrator of the book. She talks and shows Evadne what life is like on the island for the women there, what daily life means and the struggles they face. She is a different and less independent woman than Evadne, accepting her lot in life.
But then the shadow of war takes over, Evadne meets a greek man and when the war starts, they makes decisions that they might not have done in peace time. War time work occupies their minds as it does everyone else on the island.
But life has a funny way of surprising you when you least expect it and Evadne is faced with one major decision. As the Germans gained control in Crete, Anthi and Evadne, friends from two sides of the track grow up together against a background of gritty war time reality.
Where Next?
