THE GREEK LETTERS QUARTET  splits the four volumes into fifty-year periods of Modern Greek history, beginning with: 

  

GREEK LETTERS : Volume 1 ‘BEFORE’ is set at the time of the hugely important Battle of Navarino in 1827. This battle, near modern day Pylos in the Peloponnese, sealed the fate of the Ottomans, not only ending their occupation of Greece but also by defining the end of the Greek War of Independence. It was also extremely influential in the course of European history, since at this time the Ottomans had designs on Vienna. Samuel Carr, a Philhellene leaving his comfortable life with his yeoman family, near the fast growing city of Manchester, travels to Greece with the impetuousness of youth, totally unaware of the conditions he will find. Eventually he is reunited with Susannah, a woman he met on the voyage, he still nursing a war wound from the Battle of Navarino, she striking out as an independent woman and as it turns out much older than Samuel, does this lessen or increase his troubles?  The people they meet en route will shape the destiny of Samuel’s ancestors in unexpected ways and the letters by his wife found by the young servant, Soula, and other servants leads them to consider their value to enhance their own lives. Blackmail is clearly to become an issue for the Carr family. There is always a feeling that Samuel struggles with his sexuality and a whiff of trouble ahead is broached when a child must be brought up in the remote Mani region. With the help of a dashing Greek kapetani and a motley array of servants whose original loyalty is brought into question the English party depart from the wilds of the Mani. As the family reach near to the comparative safety of Nafplio, Susannah's manservant Cuthbert drops a letter, and Samuel seeing it, innocently picks it up and hands it back to the servant. The servant is unaware that Samuel has just bade a final goodbye to the Greek he admires most. PAPERBACK EDITION ISBN 978-1983244889 

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GREEK LETTERS : Volume 2 ‘AND AFTER’ sees Samuel arriving in the new Greek capital of Nafplio with his family including the infant son, Philip, and his servants. An aristocrat who had taken him under his wing at the time of the Battle of Navarino makes sure he is assimilated into the new Greek society and when the first president of Greece, Capodistrias is assassinated in 1831, Samuel is proposed as the new President. This idea he greets with horror and makes plans to return to England, leaving Philip with his benefactor, intending to return when he has settled his affairs. The two youngest of his servants betray Samuel's trust before he has left Corfu and when they are left on the Ionian island resentment is created. The once lovable Soula links up with the scheming Cuthbert and regardless of whether Samuel is in Cheshire or Greece he will feel the effects of their several blackmail attempts threatening him through the rest of his life. It seems Susannah has also had a past and it falls to Samuel to clear her name. At the end of Samuel’s life, who has become a wealthy and successful businessman. Arthur, his second son, is able to send Soula on her way, empty handed but it is a hollow victory when Soula leaves Arthur in doubt of his father’s sexual persuasion. PAPERBACK EDITION: ISBN 978-1981114528

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GREEK LETTERS : Volume 3 ‘THE EYES HAVE IT’ covers the Edwardian period to WW2 initially told through the childhood eyes of Samuel’s great-granddaughter Helene with an emphasis on Cheshire life prior to and during WW1 with a great deal of domestic detail (of the type that seems popular in Victorian/Edwardian reality TV shows!). As a teenager, Helene meets her fair-haired cousin Phil from Greece, descendant of Samuel’s firstborn. Her father finally seems to reconcile the rift he has always felt with his father Arthur, who favoured his twin brother who did not have the fair looks of Samuel. Wartime events, at the end of WW1 especially the shock of a cousin’s wartime injuries send Helene on a giddy course and the 1930s finds her in Greece, tracking down her other cousin Phil. Several exciting adventures follow in Athens, the Peloponnese and the heart of Greek mountains of the Pindus. With enormous upset on the eve of WW2 a frantic Helene no choice but to find a husband quickly and as the generations inevitably move on it seems that England is the only safe place to sit out the war. But there is a hint that further blackmail might arise as the book draws to a close and introduces Rosalind. ISBN 978-1718709355

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GREEK LETTERS : Volume 4 ‘MUCH MORE THAN HURT’ reprises the early 19th century story through the eyes of minor characters in the first volume: giddy Soula, her angry teenage husband Aristotle, by weaving it through the travels of Rosalind’s family who for various reasons make a 21st century journey in Greece, following in the footsteps of their ancestor Samuel. Rosalind attempts to unravel her family’s ancestry; but the book she writes creates further blackmail by a 21st century Soula. Rosalind’s life is eased by fortuitously re-meeting the father of her illegitimate firstborn, Andrew, at a harrowing group therapy course on 1980s Corfu and their subsequent marriage, a second marriage for both. When her second husband dies, (not mentioned by his given name - Gerald - in this volume to give piquancy to subsequent novels,) her first husband steps in to support her, sanctioned by their family especially Andrew whose own career as a successful businessman adds a thrilling dimension to the plot. But when the family meets the namesakes of the 19th century protagonist Soula and her family, suddenly another blackmail situation is to hand. 

ISBN: 978-1983038648

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