Synopses & Reviews
May1941 and the island of Crete is invaded by paratroopers from the air. After a lengthy fight, thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers are forced to take to the hills or become escaping PoWs, sheltered by the Cretan villagers.
Sixty years later, Lois West and her young son, Alex, invite feisty Great Aunt Pen to a special eighty-fifth birthday celebration on Crete, knowing she has not been back there since the war.
Penelope George - formerly Giorgidiou - is reluctant to go but is persuaded by the fact it is the 60th anniversary of the Battle. It is time for her to return and make the journey she never thought she'd dare to. On the outward voyage from Athens, she relives her experiences in the city from her early years as a trainee nurse to those last dark days stranded on the island, the last female foreigner.
When word spreads of her visit, and old Cretan friends and family come to greet her, Lois and Alex are caught up in her epic pilgrimage and the journey which 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...
Synopsis
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."
About the Author
Leah Fleming was born in Lancashire and is married with three sons and a daughter. She writes from an old farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales and an olive grove in Crete.