North of Ithaka. One Woman's Odyssey into her Family's Extraordinary Past
by Eleni Gage
Bantam Press. Hardback first edition 2004
365 pages, 8 pages colour plates
Fine unmarked copy in a fine dustwrapper.
Eleni Gage recounts her return to the remote Greek village of Lia to rebuild her grandmother’s ruined house and confront a family history marked by trauma and exile. She exchanges her urban life for a landscape shaped by memory, folklore, and the legacy of the Greek Civil War. As she navigates local customs, misadventures, and the emotional weight of her grandmother’s murder, the project becomes a journey of cultural rediscovery and personal grounding. The memoir blends travel, history, and family saga to show how reclaiming a physical home can revive connections to identity and the past