Ask the Author: Leta Serafim
Answered Questions (11)
Leta Serafim
I wrestled with this issue continually as I was working on this book, and I kept asking myself how deeply did I want to go? How dark did I want to get? What was the answer or even the start of an answer to this unfolding human tragedy? And as far as easy answers, much like my poor detective, Yannis Patronas, I didn’t come up with one. The suffering in the camps is immense and it’s going to continue. Perhaps we can manage the problem better, but I doubt very much that we’ll solve it.
Leta Serafim
My husband’s family was from Chios, and I was always drawn to it—in part, because it is so different from the rest of Greece. When I first visited the island in 1976, it was almost like a private kingdom, dominated by a few wealthy ship-owning dynasties. A friend in Athens once said, “It’s like you need an invitation to go there,” and to an extent, that was true. There were physical traces all over the island of the long Ottoman occupation, with a unique blending of Turkish and Greek culture visible in both the food and in everyday life—all of which delighted me!
Leta Serafim
I visited Greece every summer for over forty years during the course of my marriage, and I sought very hard to understand the Greeks as I traveled among them. I watched it change right before my eyes very much like my detective, Yannis Patronas, does in this book. And I mourned those changes—the slow erosion of traditional values and culture that was taking place.
My late husband was Greek to the core of his being; and he was instrumental in this. I truly believe it is the most beautiful country on earth—the sight of the Aegean in the sunlight, the villages on the islands, all of it—but, that said, I also have no illusions and know that it is a hard place in which to live. I wanted to make sure to show the reality of that aspect while also celebrating its very real beauty.
My late husband was Greek to the core of his being; and he was instrumental in this. I truly believe it is the most beautiful country on earth—the sight of the Aegean in the sunlight, the villages on the islands, all of it—but, that said, I also have no illusions and know that it is a hard place in which to live. I wanted to make sure to show the reality of that aspect while also celebrating its very real beauty.
Leta Serafim
I was in Greece when a migrant ship capsized in the strait separating Chios from mainland Turkey, and a child was drowned. I saw news footage of a Greek Coast Guard officer cradling the dead child in his arms and sobbing. That image stayed with me and is the genesis of this book.
Leta Serafim
Patronas is a kind of Greek everyman, a wry and often bewildered commentator on life in his country. While deeply patriotic and sentimental about his heritage, he has no illusions about his countrymen or about modern-day Hellenic life.
Leta Serafim
I am working on the third book in my Greek Island Mystery Series, From the Devil's Farm, which is set on the island of Sifnos.
Leta Serafim
My advice for aspiring writers is to stay true to your vision in spite of everything and write and rewrite and then write some more. I wish I could say practice makes perfect, but my experience is there is no 'perfect' in writing as I am never satisfied with what I produce. I just keep trying to get better, to nail that phrase, that description, that character. Sometimes it works, most of time it's a struggle.
Leta Serafim
The best thing about being a writer is when something unexpected emerges, a bit of poetry you didn't know you had in you.
Leta Serafim
When I get writer's block, I try and trick myself by putting the book aside and writing something else. One year, it was Christmas cards. After I wrote notes to about a dozen people, I was able to get back to work.
Leta Serafim
I can't remember a time when I didn't write. I used to write stories when I was ten or eleven years old, illustrate them and read them to my ever-suffering little sister. And then when I was a living in Greece and struggling to adapt to the culture, writing was how I dealt with my loneliness and homesickness. It has always been a source of comfort to me.
Leta Serafim
Most of my ideas come from evens I witness. For example, my latest book, When the Devil's Idle, was inspired by an encounter I saw on a beach in Greece a decade ago.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more