8 Historical Novels to Read Before Visiting Greece
Greece is a land of legends, epic battles, and timeless stories. Reading historical fiction set in Greece before your visit can make your journey richer, helping you understand the people, culture, and history behind its landscapes. Here are 8 historical novels that bring Greece to life.
The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault
Alexias is a young aristocrat living during the end of Athens’s Golden Age. Prized for his beauty and athletic prowess, Alexias studies under Sokrates with his closest friend, Lysis. Together, the young men come of age in an Athens on the verge of great upheaval. They attend the Olympics, partake in symposia, fight on the battlefields of the Peloponnesian War, and fall in love.
The first of Mary Renault’s celebrated historical novels of ancient Greece, The Last of the Wine follows Alexias and Lysis into adulthood, when Athens is defeated by Sparta, the Thirty Tyrants take hold of the city, and the lives of both men are changed forever. Through their friendship, Renault opens a vista onto ancient Greek life, uncovering its vibrancy, culture, and political strife, and offers an unforgettable story of love, honor, loyalty, and the remarkable bond between two men
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad. Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island’s shores in the form of the conquering Italian army.
Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it is genuinely moving.
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.
Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history—one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale. . . .
Zorba by Nikos Kazantzakis
Zorba the Greek is a novel written by the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis, first published in 1946. It is the tale of a young Greek intellectual who ventures to escape his bookish life with the aid of the boisterous and mysterious Alexis Zorba. The novel was adapted into a successful 1964 film of the same name by Michael Cacoyannis as well as a 1968 musical, Zorba.
The book opens in a café in Piraeus, just before dawn on a gusty autumn morning. The year is most likely 1916. The narrator, a young Greek intellectual, resolves to set aside his books for a few months after being stung by the parting words of a friend, Stavridakis, who has left for the Russian Caucasus in order to help some Pontic Greeks (in that region often referred to as Caucasus Greeks) who are being persecuted. He sets off for Crete in order to re-open a disused lignite mine and immerse himself in the world of peasants and working-class people.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
The inspiration for The Durrells in Corfu, a Masterpiece production on public television: A naturalist’s account of his childhood on the exotic Greek island.
When the Durrells could no longer endure the gray English climate, they did what any sensible family would do: sold their house and relocated to the sun-soaked island of Corfu.
As they settled into their new home, hilarious mishaps ensued as a ten-year-old Gerald Durrell pursued his interest in natural history and explored the island’s fauna. Soon, toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies—as well as scorpions, geckos, ladybugs, praying mantises, octopuses, pigeons, and gulls—became a common sight in the Durrell villa.
Uproarious tales of the island’s animals and Durrell’s fond reflections on his family bring this delightful memoir to life. Capturing the joyous chaos of growing up in an unconventional household, My Family and Other Animals will transport you to a place you won’t want to leave.
The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis
The Murderess is a bone-chilling tale of crime and punishment with the dark beauty of a backwoods ballad. Set on the dirt-poor Aegean island of Skiathos, it is the story of Hadoula, an old woman living on the margins of society and at the outer limits of respectability. Hadoula knows about herbs and their hidden properties, and women come to her when they need help. She knows women’s secrets and she knows the misery of their lives, and as the book begins, she is trying to stop her new-born granddaughter from crying so that her daughter can at last get a little sleep. She rocks the baby and rocks her and then the terrible truth hits her: there’s nothing worse than being born a woman, and there’s something that she, Hadoula, can do about that.
The Island by Victoria Hislop
A number one bestseller in the UK, this captivating and epic tale of family ties, romance, war, disease, and history is set on the beautiful Greek Island of Crete.
On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding plans a trip to her mother’s childhood home in Plaka, Greece hoping to unravel Sofia’s hidden past. Given a letter to take to Sofia’s old friend, Fotini, Alexis is promised that through Fotini, she will learn more.
Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone’s throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga—Greece’s former leper colony. Fotini at last reveals the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters, and a family rent by tragedy, war, and passion. Alexis discovers how intimately her family is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip.
Atmospheric and captivating, The Island transports readers and keeps them gripped to the very last word.
The Lives Between Us by Rania Stone
Lydia, an investigative journalist for Privet Magazine, finds herself drawn into a story in Greece on the island of Rhodes that turns out to be more dangerous than she could imagine. While on the island, she discovers a conduit through past lives to the lost jewel that once adorned the crown of the Colossus of Rhodes.
Centuries ago, an earthquake in Ancient Greece struck the island, and the Colossus of Rhodes—a gigantic statue of the sun god, Helios—fell into the sea, and the crown jewel was lost forever. From ancient times, through the crusades, invasions, and world wars, many have searched for the jewel’s location, but it has remained a mystery—until now.
As Lydia draws closer to the truth, people around her are brutally executed one by one. On the run and unable to trust anyone—her boyfriend, the police, and unknown assailants—Lydia struggles to stay alive long enough to discover the crown jewel’s final location and escape the island. If she fails, the opportunity to right wrongs from the past will be lost for eternity. This is her only chance to solve it, but the risk may be too high.
These 8 historical novels transport you across centuries of Greek history—from ancient Athens to the sun-soaked islands of WWII and beyond—helping you explore Greece even before setting foot there. Whether you love epic battles, romance, haunting tales, or real historical struggles, these books will enrich your journey.
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