Yvette Manessis Corporon

Where the Wandering Ends

Seventy years after her grandmother helped hide a Jewish family on a Greek island during World War II, a woman sets out to track down their descendants—and discovers a new way to understand tragedy, forgiveness, and the power of kindness in “an engrossing peek into a little-known chapter of World War II, and one family’s harrowing tale of finding the lost pieces of its own history” (Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar Temptress Solider Spy). Yvette Manessis Corporon grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories about how the people of the small Greek island Erikousa hid a Jewish family—a tailor named Savvas and his daughters—from the Nazis during World War II. Nearly 2,000 Jews from that area died in the concentration camps, but even though everyone on Erikousa knew Savvas and his family were hiding on the island, no one ever gave them up, and the family survived the war. Years later, Yvette couldn’t get the story of the Jewish tailor out of her head. She decided to track down the man’s descendants—and eventually found them in Israel. Their tearful reunion was proof to her that evil doesn’t always win. But just days after she made the connection, her cousin’s child was gunned down in a parking lot in Kansas, a victim of a Neo-Nazi out to inflict as much harm as he could. Despite her best hopes, she was forced to confront the fact that seventy years after the Nazis were defeated, remainders of their hateful legacy still linger today. As Yvette and her family wrestled with the tragedy in their own lives, the lessons she learned from the survivors of the Holocaust helped her confront and make sense of the present. In beautiful interweaving storylines, the past and present come together in a nuanced, heartfelt “story of compassion and collective resistance” with “undeniable emotional power” (Kirkus Reviews).

A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil

Something Beautiful Happened

They wondered if they would ever find their way back—back to the village, back to a life of meaning, back to each other. Corfu, 1946—In a poor Greek community, ten-year-old Marco is perhaps the poorest of them all. But it wasn’t always that way. His grandmother once worked for the royal family where Marco’s mother played alongside young Prince Phillip himself. Now Greece is on the brink of civil war, and Marco’s mother still clings to the desperate hope that somehow the royal family will save her own. As the war turns deadlier, Greece’s Queen Frederica takes a defiant stand against the communists, announcing that she will save her country’s most innocent by opening children’s villages. When the communist partisans erect camps of their own, children are ripped from their mothers’ arms; entire villages are emptied. Young Katerina has been best friends with Marco for as long as she can remember, cementing their bond by stealing scraps from her family’s table to sneak to him. But when the communists reach their village, loyalties are tested as devastating secrets threaten to emerge. Katerina and Marco are separated just before her family flees on foot. At their final goodbye, Katerina and Marco promise to find their way back to the village, and to each other. This haunting childhood vow launches events that will take decades to unravel. Set among Corfu’s picturesque lanes, hamlets, and villas where kings, villagers, and saints all walk the same cobblestone paths, Where the Wandering Ends reminds us of the tenacity of those who have lost everything and the enduring power of home. “[A] magically crafted story combining history and mythology.” —Heather Morris, New York Times bestselling author A heart-wrenching yet hopeful story that spans decades: from post-World War II to early 2000s Stand-alone novel Book length: approximately 112,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs

A Novel of Corfu

Når sypressene hvisker

Nach dem Tod ihres ersten Mannes hat die New Yorkerin Daphne sich ihr Glück hart erarbeitet. Nun steht die Tochter griechischer Einwanderer kurz vor ihrer zweiten Hochzeit, doch eine unbestimmte Sehnsucht führt sie zu ihrer Großmutter nach Griechenland. Auf der verwunschenen Insel Erikoussa findet Daphne zurück zu ihren Ursprüngen und zu ihren wahren Sehnsüchten. Als sie von dem tragischen Geheimnis ihrer Großmutter erfährt, ändert sich ihr Leben für immer.

Roman

Das Flüstern der Zypressen

On a beautiful Greek island, myths, magic, and a colorful cast of mortals come together in a lushly atmospheric debut celebrating the powerful bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother. The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne has been brought up to believe in the American dream. When her husband dies in a car accident, leaving her with an inconsolable baby and stacks of bills, she channels everything she has into opening her own Greek restaurant. Now an acclaimed chef and restaurateur, she has also found a second chance at love with her wealthy, handsome fiancé. Although American by birth, Daphne spent many blissful childhood summers on the magical Greek island of Erikousa, which her grandmother still calls home. At her Yia-yia's side, she discovered her passion for cooking and absorbed the vibrant rhythms of island life, infused with ancient myths and legends lovingly passed down through generations. Somehow her beloved grandmother could always read her deepest thoughts, and despite the miles between them Daphne knows Yia-yia is the one person who can look beyond Daphne's storybook life of seeming perfection to help her stay grounded. With her wedding day fast approaching, Daphne returns to Erikousa and to Yia-yia's embrace. The past and the present beautifully entwine in this glorious, heartfelt story about a woman trapped between the siren call of old-world traditions and the demands of a modern career and relationship. When Daphne arrives on Erikousa with her daughter, Evie, in tow, nothing is the way she recalls it, and she worries that her elderly Yia-yia is losing her grip on reality. But as the two of them spend time together on the magical island once again, her grandmother opens up to share remarkable memories of her life there—including moving stories of bravery and loyalty in the face of death during World War II—and Daphne remembers why she returned. Yia-yia has more than one lesson to teach her: that security is not the same as love, that her life can be filled with meaning again, and that the most important magic to believe in is the magic of herself.

Yvette Manessis Corporon

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