Set among Corfu’s picturesque lanes, hamlets and villas, where kings, villagers and saints all walk the same cobblestone paths, “Where the Wandering Ends” reminds readers of the tenacity of those who have lost everything and the enduring power of home.
The novel comes as the third release by internationally acclaimed author Yvette Manessis Corporon and has received praise from various New York Times bestselling authors. Corporon’s latest work was also selected as a weekly “Buzz Pick” by Good Morning America in late August.
The story follows two young friends who are separated by unspeakable tragedy during the Greek Civil War, haunted by a vow to return to one another and their home on the island of Corfu.
In 1946 on Corfu, in a poor Greek community, ten-year-old Marco is perhaps the poorest of them all. But it wasn’t always that way. His grandmother once worked for the royal family where Marco’s mother played alongside young Prince Phillip himself.
Now Greece is on the brink of civil war, and Marco’s mother still clings to the desperate hope that somehow the royal family will save her own.
As the war turns deadlier, Greece’s Queen Frederica takes a defiant stand against the communists, announcing that she will save the children of Greece by opening children’s villages. When the communist partisans erect camps of their own, children are ripped from their mothers’ arms, entire villages are emptied.
Young Katerina has been best friends with Marco for as long as she can remember, cementing their bond as Katerina steals scraps from her family’s table to sneak to him. But when communists reach their village, loyalties are tested as devastating secrets threaten to emerge.
Katerina and Marco are separated just before her family flees on foot. At their final goodbye, Katerina and Marco promise to find their way back to the village, and to one another.
That haunting childhood vow setting into motion events that will take decades to unravel.
“Love, hope, courage, and survival thread their way through this magically crafted story combining history and mythology. This story stays with me. The love and sacrifice of mothers, promises made by children, unbearable loss, dreams cast aside but never forgotten.” — Heather Morris, New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Three Sisters
“Corporon, the daughter of Greek immigrants, tells a compelling story spanning six decades in the lives of Greeks living on the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea . . . Corporon brings to light a little-known part of European history with her fluid prose, attention to detail, and character-driven narrative.” — Historical Novel Society
“Where the Wandering Ends” is available for purchase here.
About the author
Yvette Manessis Corporon is an internationally bestselling author and Emmy Award–winning producer. To date, her books have been translated into 16 languages. A first generation Greek-American with deep family roots on Corfu, Yvette studied classical civilization and journalism at New York University. She lives in Brooklyn with her family where she spends her spare time reading, running, and trying to get into yoga. For more information, visit her website and follow her on Instagram (@yvettecorporon), Twitter (@YvetteNY) and Facebook (@YvetteManessisCorporonAuthor).
Featured image: Radek Kucharski via Flickr
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1 comment
Monarchs & Masons were real Greeks for modernism and moderation which is why alien
extremists of either kind hate them: Arvlah Mussolini “Legions”, Smyrna
communists, Pontus nazis, and anti-American 1975 Helsinki returnees. No
pogroms on mainland but Smyrna (1872, Arabs) and Corfu (1891, Albanians).
Venizelos started the Civil War with his Napoleonic coups of 1909, 1917, 1923
& 1935, caudillo banana republics; civil war lasted until Koufodinas arrested
in 1999. Metaxas warned Smyrna territory, esp deep inland river, could not
be defended. (Paris 1919, Marg MacMillan, Ll George grdtr, pp. 440-441) And
yet they executed elected premiers. Vatikiotis shows Metaxas believes his
notions of Popular Autocracy came from the Tzars not fascism. But I have
argued as Bikelas (1890) showed Byzantium the most democratic and tolerant
regime of its day, Tzarist Autocracy came from Catherine’s correspondence
with Diderot. Metaxas countercoup was provoked by Plastiras just as the 1967
junta was provoked by Andreas. I know from officers superior to the colonels
that junta was supposed to be very short, restorative and lead to snap
elections. However, Acton was right, absolute power corrupts
absolutely. Papadopoulos wanted to lead to get his divorce. Ioannides was
plum insane, though he was chosen because Papadopoulos actions at the
Polytech was found reprehensible by most generals. Woodhouse says
Papadopoulos was a caudillo but Ioannides a nazi. And yet, those patriots
who didn’t plan to hold power long were never tried or imprisoned, suggesting
their intentions came through as honest.