Margarita Liberaki – författare

With a new introduction by Polly Samson, Sunday Times bestselling author of A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS 'Gorgeous... the written equivalent of lying in the sun eating figs' India Knight, Sunday Times'That summer we bought big straw hats. Maria's had cherries around the rim, Infanta's had forget-me-nots, and mine had poppies as red as fire. . .'Three Summers is a warm and tender tale of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a ramshackle old house with their divorced mother are flirtatious, hot-headed Maria, beautiful but distant Infanta, and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed. Over three summers, the girls share and keep secrets, fall in and out of love, try to understand the strange ways of adults and decide what kind of adults they hope to become.'The sun has disappeared from books these days... You are one of those who pass it on' Albert Camus to Margarita Liberaki 'The literary equivalent of a sun-soaked holiday in Greece' Culture Whisper'A leisurely, large-hearted coming-of-age novel, earthy and innocent, nostalgic and beautifully rendered' Kirkus'A dreamy, cinematic tapestry of Greek village life' NPR

With a new introduction by Polly Samson, Sunday Times bestselling author of A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS 'Gorgeous... the written equivalent of lying in the sun eating figs' India Knight, Sunday Times'That summer we bought big straw hats. Maria's had cherries around the rim, Infanta's had forget-me-nots, and mine had poppies as red as fire. . .'Three Summers is a warm and tender tale of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a ramshackle old house with their divorced mother are flirtatious, hot-headed Maria, beautiful but distant Infanta, and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed. Over three summers, the girls share and keep secrets, fall in and out of love, try to understand the strange ways of adults and decide what kind of adults they hope to become.'The sun has disappeared from books these days... You are one of those who pass it on' Albert Camus to Margarita Liberaki 'The literary equivalent of a sun-soaked holiday in Greece' Culture Whisper'A leisurely, large-hearted coming-of-age novel, earthy and innocent, nostalgic and beautifully rendered' Kirkus'A dreamy, cinematic tapestry of Greek village life' NPR

Maria (20), Infanta (18) und Katerina (16) leben in den 1930ern auf einem Landgut in der Nähe von Athen und teilen alle Geheimnisse miteinander. Dabei könnten die Schwestern unterschiedlicher nicht sein: Maria ist ständig in einen anderen Jungen verliebt, Infanta widmet sich lieber ihren Stickereien, und Katerina will als Schriftstellerin die Welt bereisen. Jeder Sommer, der vergeht, führt die Lebenswege der drei in unterschiedlichere Richtungen. Besonders Katerina löst sich immer mehr aus dem Familienverbund und blickt hinter die Fassaden der ländlichen Idylle. Dabei gibt ihr vor allem das einsame Leben ihrer geschiedenen Mutter Anna große Rätsel auf. Der Versuch, diese zu lösen und sich dabei nicht von der ersten ohnmächtigen Liebe vereinnahmen zu lassen, stellt Katerina schließlich vor eine brennende wie zeitlose Frage: Muss ich als Frau auf Liebe und Familie verzichten, um selbstbestimmt und freiheitlich zu leben?

First published in the 1950s to international acclaim, Margarita Liberaki's allegorical novel, The Other Alexander, speaks to the opposing forces inherent in human nature. This exquisite poetic drama reenacts Greek tragedy in its evocation of a country riven by civil war and a family divided against itself. A tyrannical father leads a double life; he has two families and gives the same first names to both sets of children. In an atmosphere of increasing unease and mistrust, the half-siblings meet, love, hate, and betray one another. Embroiled in absurdity, Liberaki's characters must confront their doubles, as individual and collective identity is called into question in this tale of psychological and political haunting. Hailed by Albert Camus as true poetry, Liberaki's sharp, riveting prose, with its echoes of Kafka, consolidates her place in European literature. Con¬sidered one of Greece's most distinctive voices, Margarita Liberaki is essential reading.

Caterina, la joven narradora de este gran clásico de la lite­ratura griega del siglo XX, es amante de la lluvia y también del sol, de los animales domésticos con los que convive, de los paseos solitarios entre olivos y pinos y de los do­mingos de playa, de las texturas y los colores de lo que la rodea: mira el mundo con el deslumbramiento y la inten­sidad propia de los dieciséis años.Vive en una casa en el campo a las afueras de Atenas con su madre divorciada, una tía marcada por un trauma de ju­ventud y sus dos hermanas mayores, que tienen un carác­ter y unas aspiraciones muy distintas a las de la voz prota­gonista, quien ama, por encima de todo, lo desconocido, la aventura. El personaje que encarna todos los anhelos de nuestra narradora es la abuela polaca, que un día desa­pareció para emprender una vida independiente fuera del matrimonio y lejos de sus hijas. De la abuela sólo queda el recuerdo de su rotunda decisión, pero, a pesar de que la familia ha renegado de ella, constituye para Caterina una figura tutelar.Mientras la heroína y sus hermanas acuden a fiestas, afron­tan sus primeras cuitas amorosas y lidian con la canícula a lo largo de los tres veranos que recrea esta bella novela de formación, tratan de comprender las extrañas queren­cias de los adultos y se preguntan constantemente en qué tipo de personas quieren convertirse. Tres veranos es el amplio retrato de una feminidad diversa, compleja y, en ocasiones, contradictoria, una historia que encierra todo el encanto de aquellos momentos que inadvertidamente acaban convirtiéndose en los momentos decisivos de una vida sólo cuando se echa la vista atrás.«El sol ha desaparecido de los libros de hoy. Por eso hacen daño en lugar de ayudar a vivir. Usted está entre quienes irradian ese sol. Siento una gran afinidad con Tres veranos.» Albert Camus a Margarita Liberaki