Eleni [Paperback]

Nicholas Gage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 1996

In 1948, as civil war ravaged Greece, children were abducted and sent to communist "camps" inside the Iron Curtain. Eleni Gatzoyiannis, forty-one, defied the traditions of her small village and the terror of the communist insurgents to arrange for the escape of her three daughters and her son, Nicola. For that act, she was imprisoned, tortured, and executed in cold blood.

Nicholas Gage joined his father in Massachusetts at the age of nine and grew up to become a top New York Times investigative reporter, honing his skills with one thought in mind: to return to Greece and uncover the one story he cared about most: the story of his mother.

Eleni takes you into the heart a village destroyed in the name of ideals and into the soul of a truly heroic woman.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A Story Assigned By Fate...Minutely Observed And Eloquently Rendered."

-- The New York Times Book Review



"A Remarkable Work Of 'Faction'...I can think of no higher praise of this book than to say that it is fit to stand as a monument to Eleni Gatzoyiannis."

-- The New Republic

"Remarkable...Brilliant... Unique...Eleni lives through this book. Her son has done her justice."

-- USA Today

From the Inside Flap

In 1948, as civil war ravaged Greece, children were abducted and sent to communist "camps" inside the Iron Curtain. Eleni Gatzoyiannis, forty-one, defied the traditions of her small village and the terror of the communist insurgents to arrange for the escape of her three daughters and her son, Nicola. For that act, she was imprisoned, tortured, and executed in cold blood.

Nicholas Gage joined his father in Massachusetts at the age of nine and grew up to become a top New York Times investigative reporter, honing his skills with one thought in mind: to return to Greece and uncover the one story he cared about most: the story of his mother.

Eleni takes you into the heart a village destroyed in the name of ideals and into the soul of a truly heroic woman.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345410432
• ISBN-13: 978-0345410436
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overwhelming, December 12, 1999

By 

Alekos (Cancun, Quintana Roo Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eleni (Paperback)

Human diminishment is the theme of this masterwork, which shows how people can sacrifice their rational powers and nobler instincts on the altar of a reductionist ideology, then descend into the (home) economics of envy and the politics of resentment, and end up killing off even the mildest opposition. Concretely, it is about how Communist guerrillas in Epirus took over the village of Lia, reduced the once sturdy villagers to treacherous, starving, vermin-infested semi-savages, used them for slave labor, and finally murdered many of them. The story centers on Eleni Gatzoyiannis, who attempts to escape with her children, more for their sakes than her own. The Communists manage to get other villagers to snitch on her and they end up torturing and murdering her in a ravine along with a few other villagers. Nicholas Gage reports here on what he found out about exactly what happened in that doomed village and what happened to Eleni. Gage is, in fact, Eleni's only son and he managed to escape to America just before the Greek national armies managed to rid the northern mountains of the Communists. A successful journalist in the US, he has written a marvelous account of some unsettling and depressing events. Toward the end of the book he has the chance to take revenge on the person most responsible for his mother's fate, but decides it would be a more fitting tribute to her if he did without his revenge. Some parts of the narrative are (necessarily) reconstructed, but in general the work is faithful to the facts of history. Extremely powerful, it will stay with the reader long after the reading is finished.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I ever read!, January 2, 2006

By 

Nicholas Vuduris "Nicholas from Greece" (Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eleni (Paperback)

I'm from Greece. Before 4 years i read this book, and till then I can't forget it. I visit the place where Eleni lived and died, I talked with people who met Eleni, or their childrens. Reading this book, I had in my mind my own village, where same stories were happened. I could wright more and more for this lovevly book, but my english aren't good and i don't want to anoy you. Read this book and learn what happened at the heroic Greece. I'm glad to be here. Nicholas.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying and Touching, March 11, 2000

By 

Edda R. Bevilacqua (Santa Maria, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eleni (Paperback)

Nicholas Gage (Nicola Gatzoyiannis)wrote a book that was both terrifying and touching. It was terrifying because it exposed the brutality of Communism and touching because it told of a woman's undying love for her children, especially the boy who would one day pay tribute to her. The descriptions of torture Eleni and fellow villagers endured at the hands of the ELAS/DAG were some of the most horrifying things I've ever read. The scene where Eleni tells her son, Nicola, to be brave and gives him a gift of a cross is one of the most touching scenes of family love I've ever read about. This story is a must-read for everyone. It is both instructive about the moral degradation caused by Communism and about the courage of a family. Also read Nicholas Gage's followup, "A Place for Us: Eleni's Children in America," which chronicles events leading up to Gage's life today. Excellent writer!