The Carpet Weaver of Usak by Kathryn Gauci

The Carpet Weaver of Usak. Kathryn Gauci. Ebony Publishing. September 2018. 254 pp. ISBN#:  9780648123545.

Aspasia and Saniye, the former Greek Orthodox and the other Turkish, are two friends whose love and care for each other endures the terrible Greek-Turkish conflict between 1914 and 1919. These women live in Anatolia, a place of beauty and joy, where Greek and Turkish families celebrate frequently in the town center or meydan between the towns of Stavrodomi and Pinarbasi.

Usak is the nearby center of the carpet weaving industry.  In the early period of 1914, Greeks and Turks work together to create these masterpieces that one can virtually see in the wonderful descriptions of old classical and new styles of designing and weaving rugs.  Even the methods of creation are described as women work from home and some work from factories in hand-tying the strands that eventually become a completed rug.  During those times of work, some workers have conversations that grow and unite these women stronger by the year.  Husbands, lovers, pregnancies, family lives and death are united to the point that when the wars between Greeks and Turks begin, these women help each other give birth and survive with each other when their spouses are forced to serve for opposing sides.  The carpet weaving industry almost disappears as war becomes more dangerous to all sides!

In the beginning, even in war, soldiers on both sides do their jobs.  Many die and the sorrow is evident everywhere.  But that doesn’t stop some from rescuing those who are in danger of capture.  In 1919 the war becomes worse with the arrival of the Greeks at Smyrna.  In the meydan, the Fountain of the Sun and Moon now becomes the place where punishments, mainly death sentences, carried out. The treasured unity is shattered!

Throughout this novel, many die or suffer from prevailing grief, lack of food, loss of children and spouses, and so much more.  The author does such a good job at describing each scene that the reader is drawn into the entire account by numerous images that make one think and feel.  What stands out, beside the horrors of this war that too few people are aware of, is the ties that bind these two friends and families when distrust prevails.

This is a story that readers will not soon forget, one that celebrates love, laughter, trust and endurance as well as what denies, divides and shatters tradition! Outstanding!!!

Seraphina's Song by Kathryn Gauci

Seraphina’s Song. Kathryn Gauci. Ebony Publishing. December 2017. 172 pp.  ISBN#: 9780648123521.

Dionysos Mavroulis is a man hitting rock bottom.  Escaping Smyrna after the Turkish occupation, Dionysos consoles himself in the hashish parlors of Piraeus, spending every small bit of money so he can dream his life away.  However, his life undergoes a more than a dramatic change when he sees a picture of Seraphina, a singer who accompanies Aleko, a famous bouzouki player.  It’s 1923 and this form of Greek music is just beginning to become popular with its soulful sound and tone reflective of the Greek soul that has loved and suffered so deeply.

Seraphina is described as a gorgeous woman and Dionysos loses his mind, heart and soul after hearing her sing.  Truly she has the voice of a nightingale and Dionysos is so lost in that glorious being that he dances with her in a way that touches everyone watching and listening to this unexpected but glorious performance.

A love story begins but journeys where no one expects it to end.  For Seraphina is controlled by the tavern owner who is a Mafia-style figure.  Aleko knows the power and violence of Papazoglou, warning Dionysos to back off his passion for Seraphina.
 

Love is blind, however, and events quickly transpire leading to a devastating but passionate ending.  The beauty of this novel lies in the exquisite descriptions of the music produced with a bouzouki, the enchantment that binds Seraphina and Dionysos, the dances that give expression to life and love, and the almost indescribable depth of passion that these Greeks have for their homeland and unique culture.  

This is a novel you will not soon forget, a story emerging out of a painful period of Greek history, and a story of revival and love that no enemy could stifle.  Highly recommended!

The Embroiderer by Kathryn Gauci

The Embroiderer. Kathryn Gauci. Silverwood Books Ltd. November 2014. 372 pp. ISBN#: 9781781322963.  

For those who love a grand family saga, The Embroiderer will more than satisfy your love of the genre.  To begin with, we meet Dimitra, a strong, old-fashioned woman who raises strong daughters.  Dimitra’s past remains a secret until the very end of this novel but what is depicted before that astonishing finale is more than worth the wait!

Dimitra is the talented embroiderer, weaving together Turkish and Greek textile materials into designs that elicit awe in the beholder, all marked with a small, beautifully colored and crafted trademark flower.  While she encourages her daughters to be educated in languages and other subjects, she also allows them space to develop their own incredible talents.  One particular prophecy troubles her on and off until it become reality years later.

Dimitra’s daughter, Sophia, becomes a talented designer of high couture women’s clothing that is popular with both Greeks and Turks, a surprise given the deep animosity between those two peoples.  Indeed, this novel spans the historical time period of the Greek War for Independence against the Turks in in 1822 to the Balkan Wars and eventually World War II in Asia Minor, Europe, and elsewhere.

The men and women of this family and their supportive, loyal friends become friends forever, through the celebratory moments of joy as each woman succeeds all the way through the brutal scenes of each war.  In times of starvation and illness, the family saves so many in the Greek community who would otherwise have died but for the charity they received, given humbly but deliberately. To whom much is given, much is required, and this family never loses sight of that necessity.  It makes the victories seem that much sweeter!

Sophia’s daughter, Marie becomes first a famous opera and then cabaret singer and Nina becomes a scholarly quiet woman dedicated to her own love of art and history.  It is Nina’s daughter, Eleni, who is the narrator of this historical saga which sweeps the reader into its tapestry and holds it to the very last page.

Each woman will have true, passionate lovers and others unworthy of any loyalty and attention.  The reader through these scenes reads about such poignant scenes of suffering, endurance, unbelievable strength, and quiet but deadly resistance.  Even the servants are so totally engaged with this family that they literally are considered family.

There are betrayals as well, one in particular too horrendous to conceive but which will remain etched forever in readers’ minds and hearts.  But so too will be the sensational descriptions of luscious food, gorgeous jewelry and exciting clothing that are simply delightful to follow, both the familiar and the exotically strange.

All in all, The Embroiderer is a stunningly wonderful work of historical fiction and as the first novel of this new author a tribute to her immense skills of description and expression.  Highly recommended indeed!  Wonderful story and writing, Kathryn Gauci!