Pages As Planes: Greece

One of my favorite places in the world is Greece. I have books to thank for that, since I first read about this gorgeous place in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when I was in middle school. While we are getting closer to the holidays, I’m dreaming more of the places I want to visit when the magic of Christmas has left us.

Let’s Fly Off to Greece…

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares—I fell in love with Greece when I was 12 or 13 thanks to this series. I really connected with Lena and her journey to Greece really resonated with me. My name is Greek and took Greek in college. This series, about 4 friends and the summers that changed their lives, inspired a lifelong obsession with a country, culture, and friendship.

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares—If you haven’t read this 5th and final book in the series, that takes place when the girls are all grown up, I will warn you there are a lot of triggers (I’ll have them listed below). I really liked this one, even though it felt like it broke me a bit. I remember finding it at the library and being so excited to continue on with Lena, Bridget, Tibby, and Carmen.

TW/CW: mention of suicide, cancer, drowning

Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch—”Liv Varanakis doesn't have a lot of fond memories of her father, which makes sense--he fled to Greece when she was only eight. What Liv does remember, though, is their shared love for Greek myths and the lost city of Atlantis. So when Liv suddenly receives a postcard from her father explaining that National Geographic is funding a documentary about his theories on Atlantis--and will she fly out to Greece and help?--Liv jumps at the opportunity. But when she arrives to gorgeous Santorini, things are a little...awkward. There are so many questions, so many emotions that flood to the surface after seeing her father for the first time in years. And yet Liv doesn't want their past to get in the way of a possible reconciliation. She also definitely doesn't want Theo--her father's charismatic so-called "protégé"--to witness her struggle. And that means diving into all that Santorini has to offer--the beautiful sunsets, the turquoise water, the hidden caves, and the delicious cuisine. But not everything on the Greek island is as perfect as it seems. Because as Liv slowly begins to discover, her father may not have invited her to Greece for Atlantis, but for something much more important.” —From the publisher

One Summer in Santorini by Sandy Barker—”Sarah has had enough of men. It’s time to rekindle her first true love – travel – so she books a sailing trip around the Greek islands with a group of strangers. The very last thing Sarah wants is to meet someone new, but then a gorgeous American man boards her yacht… And when she also encounters a handsome silver fox who promises her the world, she realises that trouble really does come in twos. Will Sarah dive into a holiday fling or stick to her plan to steer clear of men, continue her love affair with feta and find her own way after all?” —From the publisher

Moti on the Water by Leylah Attar—”Meet Moti Ferreira—spectacularly jinxed from the day she’s born. Saddled with an eccentric mother, she stumbles upon the one man who holds the key to her freedom—the best man at her cousin’s upcoming wedding. All Moti has to do is overcome her fear of water, board a yacht to the Greek Isles, seduce the dreamy Nikos Manolas, and survive two weeks at sea with her oddball family. The only obstacle Moti doesn’t see coming is Alexandros Veronis, the onboard chef and star witness to her awkward mishaps. He transforms onions into chocolate and aroma into nostalgia. Day by day, his alchemy works its magic on Moti. But she’s not the only one falling under his spell. Everyone has a secret, growing round and ripe at Chef Alex’s table. When the masks fall off, they spill out one by one, and everything blows up in their faces. Now Moti’s truth is exposed, and worse, she’s hooked on more than Alex's midnight snacks. But this time, screwing up could be the best thing she’s ever done…” —From the publisher

The Girl Under the Olive Tree by Leah Fleming—”Back in 1941 the Greek island of Crete is captured by the Germans and the lives of two very different women are changed forever... Sixty years after the invasion of Crete, Lois West and her young son, Alex, invite feisty Great Aunt Pen to a special eighty-fifth birthday celebration on the island, knowing she has not been back there since the war. Penelope George--formerly Giorgidiou--is reluctant to go but it is time for her to return and make the journey she never thought she'd make. On the outward voyage from Athens, she relives her experiences in the city from her early years as a trainee nurse tending the wounded and dying, one of the few foreign nurses left on the battlefield. When word spreads of her visit, and old Cretan friends and family come to greet her, Lois and Alex are caught up in Penelope's epic pilgrimage and the journey that leads her to a reunion with the friend she thought she had lost forever--and the truth behind a secret buried deep in the past.” —From the publisher

The Song of Achilles of Madeline Millar—”he Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller's thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer's enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller's monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction's brightest lights--and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.”—From the publisher

Circe by Madeline Millar—”In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.”—From the publisher

The Island by Victoria Hislop—”The Petrakis family lives in the small Greek seaside village of Plaka. Just off the coast is the tiny island of Spinalonga, where the nation's leper colony once was located—a place that has haunted four generations of Petrakis women. There's Eleni, ripped from her husband and two young daughters and sent to Spinalonga in 1939, and her daughters Maria, finding joy in the everyday as she dutifully cares for her father, and Anna, a wild child hungry for passion and a life anywhere but Plaka. And finally there's Alexis, Eleni's great-granddaughter, visiting modern-day Greece to unlock her family's past. A richly enchanting novel of lives and loves unfolding against the backdrop of the Mediterranean during World War II, The Island is an enthralling story of dreams and desires, of secrets desperately hidden, and of leprosy's touch on an unforgettable family.”—From the publisher

The House of Dust and Dreams by Brenda Reid—”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, finds it hard to fit in with the whirl of endless parties and socialising. When Hugh is sent to Crete to sort out a problem, they stay in a rundown house owned by his family. His wife falls in love with the place and the people, and stays on when Hugh returns to his duties. As she tries to rebuild the ramshackle home, Evadne - known as Heavenly by the locals - makes firm friends with Anthi, a young woman from the village and Christo, the handsome and charismatic young builder. But the dark clouds of war are gathering and the island will become a crucible of violence and bloodshed in the days to come. For Heavenly, her friends and family, it will be the greatest test they have ever known.” —From the publisher

Where should we fly off to next?