A sweeping story that follows a Greek woman through the mid-twentieth century as she reconciles her family’s troubled past and forges a path all her own.
Demitra, a young artist, comes of age in post-World War II Greece, struggling with her widowed father’s emotional unavailability as she dreams her dead mother watches over her, like the goddesses she reads about in her mythology books.
While visiting family on Corfu, Demitra defies her father’s commands to return home and marry the man he chose for her. She instead stays on Corfu, where she falls in love with painting and a forbidden man. But after suffering a devastating betrayal, Demitra has no choice but to return home to Cephalonia and ask forgiveness from her father. Before they can make amends, the island is struck by a massive earthquake that kills thousands and reduces entire villages to rubble. Amid the ruins, Demitra finds the courage to confront her father and start a new life in America centered around her art.
Set among the lush Ionian islands of Corfu and Cephalonia, Demitra’s story is steeped in the myths and traditions of Greece. Over the course of decades, Demitra fights to find her voice and independence at a time when women are only as valuable as their dowries, ultimately learning the devastating secret of her family’s history and the unforgivable act of revenge and betrayal that cemented her fate and future.