Scorpionfish

After the unexpected deaths of her parents, young academic Mira returns to her childhood home in Athens. On her first night back, she encounters a new neighbor, a longtime ship captain who has found himself, for the first time in years, permanently stuck on dry land. As one cool summer night tumbles into another, Mira and the Captain's voices drift across the balconies of their apartments, slowly disclosing details and stories: of careers, of families, of love.

For Mira, love has so often meant Aris, an ex-boyfriend and rising Greek politician who has recently married a movie star. There is, too, her love for her dear friend Nefeli--a well-known queer artist who came of age during the military dictatorship--as well as Dimitra and Fady, a couple caring for a young refugee boy alongside their daughter. Undergirding each relationship is the love that these characters have for Athens, a beautiful but complicated city that is equal parts lushness and sharp edges. Against sun-filled streets, bustling cafes, and breathtaking islands--but also post-recession uncertainty and simmering political tensions--Mira reconciles the city and life that she knew with the woman she is now becoming.

In spare, insightful prose, Natalie Bakopoulos weaves a story of vulnerability, desire, and bittersweet truth, showing us how unraveling old ways of living is sometimes the key to moving forward. Scorpionfish is a map of how--and where--we find our true selves: in the pull of the ocean, the sway of late-night bar music, the risk and promise of art, and--perhaps most of all--in the sparkling, electric, summertime charge of new possibilities.