Fram's Voyages
Books 2023 - 2025
Scobie, Hero of Greece, The British Campaign 1944-45 By Henry Maule ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dan found this book in his mother’s bookshelf shortly before her death in 2019. Knowing we were going to Greece on FRAM he took it along and it sat in FRAM’s bookshelf for 3 years until we finally came to Greece. Knowing nothing really about it, he opened it up and was captivated from the first page. I was currently reading Eleni (in book review) and as we discussed our books we noticed that they had a lot of common characters and incidents. Below follows excerpts from the books’ Preface. General Sir Ronald Scobie was a British Army Officer in command of a small force of 25000 men sent to save the Greeks from starvation and disease as the Germans pulled out, and to restore their communications, did what he knew to be his duty to the Greek people as to the Western Allies. Not only were they protecting Greeks from the Germans’ retreat, but also against the on-rush of Communists flowing over the northern border. Scobie and his troops did so despite a campaign of vilification against them by politicians of the Left and in the British and American press. The bitter fighting that ravaged Athens during that last winter of the Second World War was the West’s first experience of urban guerrillas attempting to impose a political solution by force. Had this little British force been overwhelmed, as indeed it almost was, the whole of post-war history would have been very different. If this Communist coup to take over Greece had succeeded the Iron Curtain would have stretched from the Baltic to the Mediterranean and Turkey and all the oil-rich Middle East would have been in Russia’s clutches. This was a fascinating book about a very little-known snibbet of world history. As we sailed from Athens up the east coast of Attica to Thessaloniki last Fall, we felt we were experiencing first hand, the unfolding of the events in Greece at the end of WWII. The book is well-written and includes maps and diagrams of the mountainous regions of the north as well as a street by street map of the fighting in Athens.
Eleni By Nicolas Gage ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ From Amazon.com: In 1948, as civil war ravaged Greece, children were abducted and sent to communist "camps" inside the Iron Curtain. Eleni Gatzoyiannis, forty-one, defied the traditions of her small village and the terror of the communist insurgents to arrange for the escape of her three daughters and her son, Nicola. For that act, she was imprisoned, tortured, and executed in cold blood. Nicholas Gage joined his father in Massachusetts at the age of nine and grew up to become a top New York Times investigative reporter, honing his skills with one thought in mind: to return to Greece and uncover the one story he cared about most: the story of his mother. Eleni takes you into the heart a village destroyed in the name of ideals and into the soul of a truly heroic woman. It was impossible to put this book down once started. Eleni came from a village in the mountains not far from the Albanian border. Her village was painfully poor eaking out a meagre existence. We follow her and her village’s horrific experience at the hands of Albanian and Bulgarian Communists insurgents. The cruelty they exhibited defies all logic and human decency. But the Greeks would not be defeated and with the help of General Ronald Scobie, British troops and the Greek resistance movement, they were finally able to save Greece from the ravages of communism. We both highly recommend this book!
The Island By Victoria Hislop ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another fascinating novel of Greece by Victoria Hislop. This one is about Crete and follows 3 generations of Greek families living in a small town called Plaka, near the Leper colony island of Spinalonga. Spinalonga really existed and really was a Leper colony between 1903 and 1957. Not sure if we are going to Crete but it would definitely be an enriching experience. As with all of Hislop’s books, you learn a lot about the place and history. Excerpt from amazon.com: On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding plans a trip to her mother’s childhood home in Plaka, Greece hoping to unravel Sofia’s hidden past. Given a letter to take to Sofia’s old friend, Fotini, Alexis is promised that through Fotini, she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone’s throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga—Greece’s former leper colony. Fotini at last reveals the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters, and a family rent by tragedy, war, and passion. Alexis discovers how intimately her family is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip.
Cartes Postales from Greece By Victoria Hislop ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I found this book at Licata Marina, Sicily where we spent the winter 2023-2024. It is a delightful read about unrequited love set in the backdrop of Greece. From amazon.com: Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to someone Ellie does not know, each signed with an initial: A. These alluring cartes postales of Greece brighten her life and cast a spell on her. She decides she must see this country for herself. On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man's odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A's tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture, but also of a desire to live life to the full once more. Victoria Hislop obviously loves Greece and her enthusiasm is contagious. This was a lovely and entertaining book that a gave me several ideas for places to see in Greece as we sailed round the islands. Especially Nafplio and Meteora.
The Lifeboat By Charlotte Rogan The Lifeboat By Charlotte Rogan ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another book picked up in a marina office. I had no expectations for this book, but once into it, I found it very compelling. It focuses on the psychological fall out when human beings are placed in a survival situation. On this lifeboat are both men and women, with very different thought processes and stress management. When put into a microcosm of 18 people on a small lifeboat the results can still be astounding. This is a really good book that keeps you mulling over the actions of the survivors long after you read the last page. From the back cover: In the summer of 1914, the Empress Alexandra, a magnificent transatlantic line suffers a mysterious explosion en route to New York City. On board are Henry Winter, a rich banker, and his young new wife, Grace. Somehow, Henry manages to secure a place in a Iifeboat for Grace. But the survivors quickly realise the lifeboat is overloaded and could sink at any moment. For any to live, some must die. Over the course of 3 perilous weeks, the passengers on the lifeboat plot, scheme, gossip and console one another while sitting inches apart. Their deepest beliefs about goodness, humanity and God are tested to the limit as they begin to discover what they will do in order to survive. The Lifeboat is a page-turning novel of moral dilemmas and also the moving and haunting story of Grace, a woman asa unforgettable and complicated as the events she recounts.
Unsinkable - The Full Story of the RMS Titanic Daniel Allen Butler ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I bought this book after we had been to the Titanic museum in Belfast in June 2022. The Titanic had always been just another ship disaster story to me; history, but that ’s it. At the museum we were immersed in the city of Belfast and the time period 1910-1912 that the Titanic was being built. The Titanic was more than just another passenger ship. She was the sum total of Belfast and its citizens’ history. Men died building the Titanic, but when she was launched, over 100,000 people from Belfast stood along the water’s edge and watched and cheered with pride because they were all involved in some way. The Titanic was the biggest, most luxurious ship ever built at that time. When she hit that iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, it wasn’t just a loss for the passengers and their families; it was a loss for everyone that had a part in building her. When we left the museum after about 2.5 hours of intense studying and witnessing a disaster unfold, I felt I needed to learn more about it. So I went on Amazon and bought the kindle version of this book. Daniel Allen Butler captures the same mood that we felt at the museum. The reader is taken through all 3 classes of passengers on board and the quality of their separate areas. Through interviews that were held with the surviving passengers and crew we follow the entire sequence of events leading to the disaster. One gets a feeling for how the passengers reacted or rather didn’t react to the collision with the iceberg and the slow listing and eventual sinking of the ship. The author analyses the actions of the captain and crew to give a feeling for how decisions were made and carried out in a crises. A very good read.
Spindeln By Lars Kepler ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is Lars Kepler's thriller featuring Detective Jonna Linna and Sara Bauer. I don't want to give anything away, so will just say that it does not disappoint. It's creepy from Page 1 and can't be put down till the end. That is my review. Dan does not agree. He found Jonna Linna's ways difficult to understand and thought it was much too long.