Margarita Liberaki

With a new introduction by Polly Samson, Sunday Times bestselling author of A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS '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 '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

Three Summers

Kat Albanese

Something wasn't enough in life, and something was too much, overflowing.

'You'd like to live two lives,' Maria once told me. ‘Your face gives you away.’

Mother said, though, that as we'd only just taken off our mourning clothes for Grandmother we could at least have chosen slightly less bright colors. She didn't understand how blue the sky was after the winter, how red the earth, how green the trees.

Now my sisters and I no longer lie around in the hay talking. We aren't all in the same place the way we were last year and other years. And when we happen to be together it's as if there is a new awkwardness, as if we had betrayed one another by doing our own thing.

There were hours when I was filled with his absence. His absence was something different from him, but it was also like him. It stood by me those moments when I was sitting at Ruth's table and kept me company on my afternoon winter walks. I loved his absence.

Maria can't see such things, nor would she bother about them if she could. It's as if she has forgotten about all of us. Just as you see her coming toward the house, she disappears.

On Sundays when they used to go to the sea and she would swim and then get out and lie on the beach, her body would become a little pebble. She would watch Katerina and Ellie sitting cross-legged eating pears, Infanta with her changed expression telling stupid jokes and flinging her arms around excessively, Uncle Agisilaos going on and on with his stories. How had she come to know these people and how can you eat pears if you're only a little pebble?

'I wanted to spy on Mother,' I said slowly.

'Never mind,' he says, ‘It's no big sin. It's just that you love life so much.’

'Sometimes one feels the need to broaden one's horizons, eh?'

'Do you mean to make a single life like a thousand lives?'

'Perhaps... Yes, something like that. It's why some people travel, others read, and others spy.'

The fire lasted for three days and three nights. It almost made it to Bafi and burned people. Now the mountain looks like a wounded beast baring its wounds to the sun. I'll never forget the fear I saw in Infanta's eyes the first night, nor her expression afterwards. One of these days my sister Infanta and I will get to know each other.

Sometimes when Yannis stayed the night in Athens at the hospital, Laura would turn on all the lights and walk around as if it were day. She'd also turn on the radio as loud as it would go, and run into the garden where the light and sound would reach her altered and unreal.

Often Laura dreamed that she couldn't sleep. She would wake up exhausted, her body worn out from the idea of not sleeping.

Marios gave a short laugh because he remembered his walks in the ravine as a child when he'd been afraid of the rushing water and had clung to his mother, but she hadn't taken him in her arms. A book would be lying open at her side. Later at night in bed when she drowned him in kisses, his heart wouldn't warm up; the loneliness had spread inside him when the shade had fallen in the ravine.

If she really wanted to know what was wrong I might tell her. She is about to ask—her voice gets warmer, sweeter—but she draws back. There's always a certain trepidation between us. We can't give away secrets that we don't have.

‘The sun must have got to you,’ she concludes.

Too bad, Mother. And I would have told you so many things about the Land of the Houyhnhms and about Mavroukos's grave and about the things I can see from the top of the walnut tree.

'Rodia, she calls. 'A lemonade for Katerina?’

A tender story about three sisters coming of age in Greece over the course of three summers, now available after being out of print for over twenty years. Three Summers is the story of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a big old house surrounded by a beautiful garden are Maria, the oldest sister, as sexually bold as she is eager to settle down and have a family of her own; 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 figure out their parents and other members of the tribe of adults, take note of the weird ways of friends and neighbors, worry about and wonder who they are. Karen Van Dyck's translation captures all the light and warmth of this modern Greek classic.

cedar winslow

I was a bit thrown off with the zionism remarks that comes in about a third of the book through. Yes, these kind of things are the way they are because of the author’s time, but with such an offhanded manner, it doesn’t stand the test of time especially with what is currently happening in the world right now and how it’s a bigger fight more than ever. 

To compare, I have recently finished Light in August by Faulkner and with that book YOU CAN TELL, it’s a critique on racism and prejudice even though it’s almost a decade older than Three Summers. It’s only a few pages though so it’s not really a big deal (eh), but I think it’s still worth taking a note on in this day and age (I mean to say it’s because most readers on social media now are asking if a book is by a zionist author).

Anyways, if you love Little Women, you would most likely love this book as well. It has the same elements of exploring the comforts and pains of childhood and womanhood, especially those moments of being a teenager when you’re still in the age of habitually going outside to play but you’re in that cusp of finally thinking about your future. That moment when you don’t know it’s actually the last time you’re going out trick-or-treating, kind of feeling. But I think it has more romance tidbits compared to Little Women.

A lot of food for thought, and I liked it ! Definitely a beginning or middle of summer type of read. 🌞

Nica

I was a bit thrown off with the zionism remarks that comes in about a third of the book through. Yes, these kind of things are the way they are because of the author’s time, but with such an offhanded manner, it doesn’t stand the test of time especially with what is currently happening in the world right now and how it’s a bigger fight more than ever. 

To compare, I have recently finished Light in August by Faulkner and with that book YOU CAN TELL, it’s a critique on racism and prejudice even though it’s almost a decade older than Three Summers. It’s only a few pages though so it’s not really a big deal (eh), but I think it’s still worth taking a note on in this day and age (I mean to say it’s because most readers on social media now are asking if a book is by a zionist author).

Anyways, if you love Little Women, you would most likely love this book as well. It has the same elements of exploring the comforts and pains of childhood and womanhood, especially those moments of being a teenager when you’re still in the age of habitually going outside to play but you’re in that cusp of finally thinking about your future. That moment when you don’t know it’s actually the last time you’re going out trick-or-treating, kind of feeling. But I think it has more romance tidbits compared to Little Women.

A lot of food for thought, and I liked it ! Definitely a beginning or middle of summer type of read. 🌞

Oh, to be able to give shape to such experiences, to make them live after their death . . . I get all excited when I hear people talk about their lives, about things that have happened to them, even the simplest events. I feel that in the telling they have greater significance than they had in real life.

fæ 

gorgeous, so special and satisfying 🥲🩵

gorgeous, so special and satisfying 🥲🩵

katerina 🥹🌹

Sarah Christine Gill

jillian tenner

A solid half 50% rating because clearly I got through it but I don’t know why and I think I may hate it ? Not sure I think that all the characters just were annoying and so many unnecessary things happened that were never touched on again and not influential to the plot I whateves

margarita liberaki beautifully captures the magic of adolescence in this sweet novel. her words paint the poetry of nature and summertime, and the nuance of growing up a young woman. i read this while on Crete, and it helped me see the world through the unsullied eyes of a young Greek woman. also big shoutout to the translator karen van dyck for keeping the poetic integrity alive and vibrant 

Riley Baker

Might have to join “The Round House” and “The Sympathizer” as one of my favorite books. The writing was so beautiful and unique and weirdly structured so similarly to the way my mind works. Some of the lines in this book will stick with me forever, though I felt like the plot could’ve been stronger in some places, especially the end felt a bit underwritten.

Jemima Scott

This book just really wasn’t for me - I can appreciate why many may love it but I honestly had to DNF it😢

Nasia

Jamie Brown

Tiff Brunson

ella

A tender story about three sisters coming of age in Greece over the course of three summers, now available after being out of print for over twenty years. Three Summers is the story of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a big old house surrounded by a beautiful garden are Maria, the oldest sister, as sexually bold as she is eager to settle down and have a family of her own; 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 figure out their parents and other members of the tribe of adults, take note of the weird ways of friends and neighbors, worry about and wonder who they are. Karen Van Dyck’s translation captures all the light and warmth of this modern Greek classic.

Three Summers

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