When Sirens Call

by Paul David Adkin

Invisible threads from the past draw together in a tragic and fateful way, two strangers on the Greek island of Nausikaa. Belinda Babchek has fled the monotony of suburban Melbourne for Europe. Robert Aimard is a much older Englishman, novelist and inn-keeper, abandoned by his wife and little daughter. Belinda and Robert’s casual meeting changes their lives forever.

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Paul Adkin was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England, in 1958, at his aunt’s house. His early infancy was spent in a council house in Bridge Street, Sandiacre, which runs parallel to the Erewash canal. The contrast between gloomy brick and the calm, fecund life of the river; between the poverty of the town and the richness of the natural world, has been a deeply ingrained dialect in Paul’s artist’s psyche. In 1965 his father, a clerk at a railway company, decided to pull up roots and migrate to Australia.
After a seven week voyage, on assisted passage, the Adkin family set themselves up at the Nunawading Migrant Hostel in Melbourne. In the most uninspiring atmosphere of the eastern suburbs, it was his discovery of Swift, Dostoevsky and Patrick White that began to open Paul’s mind to the beauty and power of literature.
Paul remained in Nunawading until he started the drama and literature course at Rusden in 1976. Without any scholarship he did part time work in factories and farms while he was learning stage craft. At Rusden he had started writing plays and after graduating he wrote and directed his first play at the La Mama Theatre in Carlton, “The Jack and Jill Story.” In 1982 he was given the prestigious title of artistic-director-in-residence at the Anthill Theatre in South Melbourne where he directed his play “Schadenfreude”.
In 1983 he left Melbourne for Japan and lived a year there teaching English and working on a novella, inspired by a Thomas Mann short story, “Gladius Dei”. That novella would eventually be published thirty years later with the title of “Art Wars”.
In 1984 he did a whirlwind tour of Europe that introduced him to the Mediterranean countries. He worked as hotel cleaner, later hotel manager and broker in London. Two very sterile years were spent in London until he escaped to Spain and Madrid.
In Madrid he married Isabel Martin and started writing a novel about the Spanish attempts to discover Australia. The result of this was the Terra Australis Incognita trilogy, the first part of which was “Purgatory”. This found a literary agent but was rejected by over one hundred publishers. Eventually it was published by Paul himself in 2012, in ebook format.
In Madrid Paul returned to the theatre and he has been the founder of three theatre companies. Big Bang and Ñu Accents were created to do plays that could teach English in Spanish schools. His third company, Ñu Teatro, produced Paul’s scripts, either translated or written by Paul himself in Spanish.
With the millennium Paul and his wife started holidaying in the Greek Islands and very soon a strong spiritual tie was developed between them. His short story Kalimera won the Eyelands short story competition in 2012 and was translated into Greek. He has been acclaimed by his Greek readers for possessing a sharp, observant eye of the Greek culture and atmosphere. When Sirens Call was another product of this very happy and fruitful relationship with the islands.

Reviews

[Carol Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrift in Madrid, twenty-something Belinda is a refugee from suburban Australia, craving sensation yet in danger of being overwhelmed by her own fears. She sets out for the tiny Greek island of Nausikaa, seeking solace, meaning and escape. Ageing novelist Robert is another refugee who left Britain and settled on Nausikaa, searching for a simpler life for himself and his family. But his wife had other dreams, departing for New York with their young daughter. Many years later he remains immured on the island as innkeeper and local identity.

Two outsiders, one is fleeing her former self, the other dwells in the past. Their lives collide in a village where ageing philosophers sit in tavernas watching the world pass and squabbling over politics, where tourists purchase 'hand-painted' thimbles made in China and life continues much as it has for centuries.

Wickedly observed, with moments of pure absurdity and evocative descriptions of island life, 'When Sirens Call' is a meditation on art, love and the nature of friendship. It will draw you into its world then chill you with its shocking conclusion.