Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff

Plunging In

Coming back to Greece was never going to be easy, but there were two clear points when something changed. The first came on my birthday. The children picked flowers, hung up balloons, and organised a candlelit tea table, helped by a school friend. When they ceremoniously brought in the cake, there was a pivotal moment of hesitation, before they evidently made an unspoken agreement. Rather than appear foreign and different form their friend, they launched into singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me in Greek, something they had never done before. I was surprised that they already knew the words.

‘May you live, little mum, and grow old, with white hair…’ they sang. ‘Chronia Polla – Many Years! And may you live to be a hundred!’ said Vassilis, adding the traditional birthday greetings. ‘Cut the cake, Mama,’ said Lara in Greek.

It marked a change of gear. The children were sweeping me along with them as they became Greek. I realized that this would change me too, and that I wanted to mark that process by becoming a Greek citizen.

Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff, 2004

Sofka Zinovieff’s first excitement about Greece happens when she is still a student. When later on, in 2001, she follows her Greek husband, as an expatriate, and settles in Athens with their two daughters, on Eurydice Street, she sees things from another perspective. During her first year in Athens, her view on her new city, new people, new language, and her decision to become a Greek citizen, make her narration an enjoyable encounter of Greece in general, full of little details and descriptions that make this book a must read for everyone who is interested in Greek life.

L. V. Paidoussi