Heavy Like – A review of the novel ‘In The Blood Of The Greeks’

“War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate” - Marvin Gaye

‘In The Blood Of The Greeks’ is the first book in the Intertwined Souls series of books written by author Mary D. Brooks. The story is set in a small town in Greece that had to bear the excesses of Nazi regime during the Second World War. Mostly a character driven plot, we follow the adventures of Zoe, a young angst ridden member of the Greek resistance movement and Eva, the daughter of the local German Commander. Even though outwardly these two characters are so different from one another, they unite to help Jews escape the country. And soon the indifference and hatred towards each other turns into a warm friendship and love that keeps them safe during this tumultuous period.

The narrative takes its time to describe the locales the story is set in and the emotional and mental characteristics of its main characters. This actually helps in establishing each character’s identity and lets the reader connect with important segments within the story. This also ensures that the character’s tears and smiles become your own. And instead of jumping into a different time frame and painting the world in black and white where Germans and Nazis are bad and lesbian romance is true and good, the author explores various important themes within the narrative. The juxtaposition of war torn land and hatred torn minds and the presence of good and evil on both sides are explored in a subtle but successful manner.

The book has a wonderful cast of well etched out characters like Father Haralambos, Stavros, Reinhardt and Henry among others who all stand out and bring crucial momentum to the story telling. And the centerpieces who take complete control of the book’s narrative are the lead protagonist Eva Muller and Zoe Lambros. The author’s dramatic and emotion rich writing ensures that you will root for both characters equally.

There’s a lot of quietness surrounding Eva, even her fury is silenced and subtle. The author introduces her as a cripple but we soon find out that she is emotionally crippled as well because of the inhumane violence she had been subject to in the past. Zoe on the other hand is like a pocket dynamite that is ready to go off at any moment’s notice. She is young, idealistic and masks the trauma and pain of losing her family to a marauding group of invaders. She is the one character in the book that gets all the damndest lines to say and the one you will cheer and applaud all the way through. A key scene that showcases the writer’s flair and skill is their confrontation scene in the cellar when they meet face to face for the first time.

The author has successfully managed to provide a keen insight into factual events through a well narrated fictional story. ( )