From INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLING AUTHOR Sara Alexi, who ranks as one of Amazon.co.uk's TOP Literary Fiction authors
The sixth book in the Greek Village Collection
Set against the stunning backdrop of an idyllic Greek village, In the Shade of the Monkey Puzzle Tree follows Theo on a journey of self-realization that will test everything he holds dear...
Dissatisfied with life in a tiny village where nothing much happens, Theo travels to Athens in search of something more, determined to make his mark and stand on his own, away from his controlling father an uninspiring future running the village cafe.
But things do not work out as he expects in the big city, and he is soon confronted with as series of harsh challenges...
Sara Alexi - Why I Wrote this Book
In the Shade of the Monkey Puzzle Tree is essentially a coming of age story, despite the hero being in his forties, and it follows Theo, the son of the kafenio owner as he travels to Athens to make his fortune and escape from the oppressive atmosphere created by his overbearing father.
When I first lived in Greece I had no money, and I took a number of low paid jobs to survive. One of these was in the Hard Rock Café in Athens (actually an imitation – not the official Hard Rock Café), and here I witnessed much of what is described in the bar where Theo finds work, so although this is a story it is also autobiographical to a degree.
The bar where I worked was a seedy place with a thin veneer of glamour, and it looked almost respectable at night, when the lights were dimmed and you couldn't see too closely into the corners. The way the business was run was ugly, and the head barman had his fingers in the till, and young girls were exploited; paid very little and made to stand at the entrance to attract customers.
The experience was a real eye opener and I have not had to embellish it at all!
The flats where Theo lived while he was in Athens are based on places I have stayed. The first place, in what was basically the cellar of a grand old house had a door next door to mine, and after living there for almost three months I discovered that the second room, still packed with the landlady's belongings, had a cot in it and this sleeping place was being rented to a Pakistani man. This old lady didn't actually kick me out in the way described in the book but when I gave my notice there were many similarities to the story told here.
The flat with the balcony was another I rented and it really did have an Albanian couple living in the basement, and they were expected to tend the garden in return for a place to stay. Next door there was a family of gypsies living in a tiny run down little building that probably should have been condemned.
Athens is a fascinating place with lots of interesting corners like this. It's a city of contrasts, and the arrangement that the Albanians had negotiated didn't seem as odd as it sounds. Neither did the fact that the gypsies lived next door really shock me. Although I don't like to see injustice, I love the variety that can be found in Athens, and the way in which it constantly surprises.
In the book, Theo finds his way back to the village of course, and he realises that what he was searching for in Athens was there inside him all along. At some point we all have to make that transition to independence, and then later we have to stand back and watch our children go off and become their own people.
I wonder how much my own decision to move to Greece had something to do with my own coming of age story. I was thirty when I went, I had no money and at that time no skills. I had been lost in the UK having not found my path so it seemed just as valid to be lost in Athens where at least the sun shone. In reality it was an experience that taught me to be independent and self-reliant and in the end I was in Greece simply because I chose to be - not because I needed to be.
