...In her first novel, Averoff created a family saga which has parallels with Nikos Themelis’ trilogy in terms both of its composition and ideological underpinnings. Her dramatis personae are formed by and interact within the emergent commercial bourgeoisie of the 19th and early 20th centuries, though the author’s focus is clearly on her characters’ relationships and inner conflicts: on the men’s modernist outlook, on the nascent era of women’s emancipation, clashes between the generations and the different ways and customs of each etc. And while the heroes of her next two books may be contemporary, they share this same ambivalence towards their social milieu, revealing a profound need for constants in a rapidly changing world. Though their horizons are never impermeable, Averoff’s female protagonists live lives marked by loneliness, depression and constant escapes into fantasy. The author weaves her allusive trips back and forth in time on a realistic weft with subversive irony and a good deal of laugh-out-loud humour. As they seek to connect with others, her characters play out versions of a story that is fundamentally the same: the only possible apprenticeship in a meaningful life.
Alexis Ziras, “Lexicon of Modern Greek Literature”, Patakis, 2007
READ THE NOVELS' REVIEWS:
