Ariadne's Thread

by Gavin James

"Ariadne's thread" is based on the true story of a young Greek girl in the Second World War. In 1942, Elena Avgoulas makes a daring escape from her occupied Greek island of Chios and enrols in the British army as a nurse. She is posted to a General Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt where she tends the wounded from the North African Campaign and experiences the life of cosmopolitan Cairo as the Axis armies advance. She meets and falls in love with a young Scottish Army officer and experiences an emotional and sexual enlightenment. As the course of the war changes in favour of the Allies, the two lovers are separated; he is posted to Britain and she serves with the medical corps which takes her through Italy and across the Rhine into Germany. Her journey becomes both physical and spiritual as she experiences the horrific aftermath of war from the front lines as well as the triumph of the human spirit. She crosses many boundaries; of countries, religions and cultures; and determines, through her odyssey, her beliefs in life and humanity. This is a story of love, endurance and faith.

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2011