'In 1922, the great Mediterranean seaport of Smyrna is ablaze: the Greeks are forced from Asia Minor in defeat. Among the refugees is Theo Tekaros, whose long journey ends in Australia. 'I was a lost soul; you'd better believe it. . .' He meets Trixie at a wartime dance, and falls in love.
'Sixty years later, their son Harry, a radio journalist deserted by his wife, heads back to Greece and Turkey in search of his father's beginnings, the past. A perpetual beginner, he is captivated by two women: an elderly bookseller in Constantinople and a Greek theatre actress. Like a latter-day Ulysses blown miles off course, Harry falls in love too. But the fabric of truth is delicate, he discovers, and mysteries abound on this planet of possibilities.' (Publication summary)
Epigraph:
‘The universe has lost its centre
overnight, and woken up to find it has
countless centres. So that each one can
now be seen as the centre, or none at all.
Suddenly there is a lot of room.’
– Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo
Epigraph: 'Wherever I travel, Greece hurts me.' - George Seferis, poet
