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Mary Irvine: My Greek Love Affair

I’ve had an affinity with Greece since childhood, Ancient, Classical and Modern. The first time I flew into Athens and saw an illuminated Acropolis I felt I was coming home. I later tried to express this feeling. Not sure I succeeded.

Re- Birth

The first time I saw her I knew I’d come home. She had been waiting for me, for my return, for years. She’d kept in touch, in her own way. Even though we’d never met, the ties were there. I’d just ignored them. But that old lady was patient and persistent. She knew that one day we would meet; the attachment was too strong to be ignored. And now I was nearly there. As I looked out of the aeroplane window I could see her welcoming glow. The Maiden waiting for her child.

‘Why don’t you go live in Greece and visit us?’

That was asked of me, maybe in jocular fashion, when I was in the habit of flying out to Greece whenever the opportunity arose, including leaving Friday evening, returning Monday morning. Flights were a lot cheaper then. Over the years I’d made many Greek friends so accommodation was not a problem. I thought seriously about the question. Why not? I was forty, had a good job, flat, car, a reasonable social life but I had a dream. What was stopping me? It was now or never.). I could do it, just for a year.

‘I wouldn’t, not at your age.’ (one person’s response to my announcement

Plans were started. A year’s unpaid leave of absence, from the Six Form College where I worked, was granted. An apartment in Piraeus rented. I wanted Athens but that would come. Legalities – almost became on first name terms with Greek Embassy. A job, no problem. Find one when I got there. I fulfilled my dream. I went to live and work in Athens.

‘A Greek Love Affair’

This book is all about my journey, solving all the problems, professional and personal. The book covers finding a job, dealing with Greek bureaucracy, adjusting to a different culture/language /social life and making decisions about relationships, one in particular. This is my third book about Greece but it should have been my first. Based entirely on my own experiences it traces my journey that culminated in my going to Greece for a year and returning to the UK sixteen years later. This book deals with living/working in Athens.

While in Athens I wrote a daily diary, in the form of letters which I sent to my friend, Linda. A few ago she returned the letters. Without reading I duly filed them away. While clearing out files earlier this year I came across the letters and thought I would read them. They encompassed a huge part of my life, a whole gamut of emotions returned. I tried several ways to form them into a novel but none worked. The penultimate one was written in the first person but, having finished the novel, I found it was too ‘close’. The original title was ‘My Greek Love Affair’ which I found ‘difficult’. So that was changed. I re-wrote it in the third person, which I found much easier, but retained the first person for the extracts from the letters. This book should have been the first written but I didn’t know it existed. Thanks are due to my friend for retaining the letters, a record of what was, and still is, a very important part of my life.

Grrr …

Several friends/acquaintances refer to my decision as ‘doing a Shirley Valentine’ which I positively dislike. That expression shows a total misunderstanding of Shirley. She didn’t go to Greece for an affair but to rediscover and become her true self, to reclaim her independence. That’s what I did. You don’t look for love, it just happens. We were each on a journey to retrieve our independence, to re-discover our identity. There were highs and lows but I followed my dream and I don’t regret any of it! I eventually returned to the UK sixteen years later … but returned yearly until Covid struck. I still have close ties. I always will.

A Greek Love Affair

‘After a failed marriage, Carys has become increasingly discontent with her life. She decides to do what she’s always dreamed of, and moves to Greece.

Taking a year’s leave of absence from her job, she heads to Athens, where she hopes her self-esteem and confidence will return.

But things don’t turn out exactly as she thought. Chasing her dreams, can Carys finally find happiness?

Based on a true story, Mary Irvine’s A GREEK LOVE AFFAIR is a romantic adventure set against the beautiful backdrop of Greece.’

Available as an eBook, paperback, hard back, from Amazon, Universal Book Link, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble.

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