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![The Illegal Gardener (Greek Village Book 1) by [Sara Alexi]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51dtHrjRukL._SY346_.jpg)
The Illegal Gardener (Greek Village Book 1) Kindle Edition
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Lift yourself, fill yourself full of hope and compassion!!
The Illegal Gardener is a moving, poignant story about life's rare encounters which knock us off our path, and elevate our very existence.
Driven by a need for some control in her life, Juliet sells up on impulse and buys a run down farmhouse in a tiny Greek village, leaving her English life behind. Her boys have grown and she has finally divorced her bullying husband. This is her time now.
Whilst making her new home habitable, Juliet discovers she needs a sturdy helping hand with the unruly and neglected garden. Unwilling to share her newfound independence with anyone, but unable to do all the work by herself, she reluctantly enlists casual labour.
Aaman has travelled to Greece from Pakistan illegally. Desperate to find a way out of poverty, his challenge is to find work and raise money for the harvester his village urgently need to survive.
What he imagined would be a heroic journey in reality is fraught with danger and corruption. Aaman finds himself in Greece, and with each passing day loses a little more of himself as he survives his new life as an immigrant worker; illegal, displaced, unwanted and with no value. Hungry and stranded, how will he ever make it back home to Pakistan?
In what begins as an uncomfortable exchange, Juliet hires Aaman to be her gardener, but resents the intrusion even though she needs the help. Aaman needs the work and money but resents the humiliation.
In spite of themselves, as the summer progresses, they get to know one another and discover they have something in common. Pieces of their lives they have kept hidden even from themselves are exposed, with each helping the other to face their painful past.
Will Juliet and Amaan finally let each other in? And what will be the outcome of this improbable conjoining of two lost souls?
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 30, 2013
- File size1447 KB
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Sara began writing later in life. In school English lessons were a time of confusion, books indecipherable hieroglyphics. Dyslexia was not well understood then and no support was available. The joy of reading and writing were canceled by the teacher's red pen ...
Despite her dyslexia Sara qualified as a psychotherapist and ran her own practice for years. Her artistic nature was, at that time, confined to painting and she exhibited widely.
In a casual conversation with a client she discovered that Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and Hans Christian Andersen were all dyslexic, and Sara's perspective changed. The world of fiction opened to her with this shift in perception and she has been a prolific writer ever since.
Her 'Greek Village Series' has been very well received and provides a keenly observed, compassionate insight into the Greek people and culture, and the human condition in general. Watch this space for the next in the series, coming soon!
Follow Sara: facebook.com/authorsaraalexi
Review
'A good tale well told. Shades of Steinbeck and Bradbury.'
'The author has huge potential and if she keeps writing and developing like this then I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her name on a future Man Booker list!'
'Sensitive with beautifully crafted characters that you really cared about.'
'I was captivated from the start unable to put the book down.' --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B008LMT78U
- Publisher : Oneiro Press; 1st edition (November 30, 2013)
- Publication date : November 30, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 1447 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 290 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #314,110 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #122 in General Greece Travel Guides
- #564 in Travel (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Sara Alexi's 'Greek Village Series' has been very well received and provides a keenly observed and compassionate insight into the Greek people and culture from the years she lived there, and a rare view of what makes up the human condition that she acquired as a psychotherapist.
The illegal Gardener
Black Butterflies
The Explosive Nature of Friendship
The Gypsy’s Dream
The Art of Becoming Homeless
In The Shade of The Monkey Puzzle Tree
A Handful of Pebbles
The Unquiet Mind
Watching The Wind Blow
The Reluctant Baker
The English Lesson
The Priest Well
A Song Amongst the Orange Trees
The Stolen Book
A Stranger in the Village
The Stolen Book
The Rush Cutter Legacy
Saving Septic Cyril
Being Enough
A Wander Through the Village - The Greek Village Handbook
A Stranger In the Village
A Self Effacing Man
The Piano Raft
The House Keeper
An Island Too Small
The Greek Village Cookery Book or The Short and Happy Tale of Pippo Lampo
The Village Idiots part I, II and III
The Other Daughter
A Very English Christmas.
The Greek Village Colouring Book.
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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We assume so many things about a person we've just met based on what they look like, where they come from, their age, their clothing, presumed status, and so on. But when you take the time and effort to look more closely, ask questions, and listen carefully, you find out that person is more than he seems. Assumptions become facts and form into a unique person with a unique story and background that often explain the causes for those presumptions. This story shows how looking not only *at* a person, at the surface, but *into* that person can be the start of not only a friendship, but a life-altering experience.
Aside from the lessons about friendship that the story teaches, it's an entertaining look at life in small-town Greece that most of us have never experienced. The reader is introduced to the people and shops of the village through Juliet's interactions as she gets used to the very different life she's chosen for herself in this relative backwater of Greece that at least is connected to the rest of the world through the wonders of the Internet and long distance telephone service.
I did have a couple of issues with the book in the areas of education and qualifications. I question how Juliet could have become competent enough in the Greek language only through coursework and tutoring to the point she could hang out her virtual shingle as a qualified translator in the language. Any language has idioms, dialects, regionalisms, and shades of meaning that only immersion in the culture as well as the living language can help a person understand fully. I had a similar problem (as a former programmer) with the apparent ease and speed that Aaman went from zero to webmaster in a matter of weeks with absolutely no previous knowledge of computers or programming.
But those issues aside, the book as a whole was an unexpected treasure. I was expecting a simple "fish out of water" story dealing with Juliet's new home and got a feel good story instead.
Recommended.
Everything in my reading history and my understanding of plot devices tells me they are going to end up in a certain kind of relationship with each other - but that's not what happens. What does happen is deeply satisfying to me. But I had to let go of my cynical expectations to truly appreciate it. I would never have believed that Aaman could teach himself, using free online learning tools, to become what he becomes except that my son did the same thing so I know it can be done. I never would have believed that Juliet could actually make a living doing what she does except that I know someone who has been able to make a living in exactly that way.
The setting - Greece -- is to my eye and ear mostly evoked through what grows in the garden. The village life is touched on so delicately and so seldom that for me it doesn't evoke a particular setting. But the garden - ah, the garden! And the cats. . . .
Sometimes the book reminds me of May Sarton's novel set in Greece - THE POET AND THE DONKEY - and sometimes I was reminded of a couple of much more recent novels (whose titles I don't remember despite the fact that I loved the books). And sometimes the book reminded me of Demetria Martinez' novel MOTHER TONGUE, another story of a woman from a culture in which she is much more privileged, comfortable, and safe than the man from another culture with who she becomes involved. However, the books have drastically different denouements and the differences between them make each one shimmer more beautifully in my mind's eye. I like books that evoke for me echoes of other books I have cared deeply about. I recommend this book to other readers one hundred percent.
Top reviews from other countries

The basis of the story is of an unlikely friendship which develops between two people of different ages, different sexes & different cultures living in rural Greece. She is looking for a gardener & he, an illegal immigrant, seems to be able to turn his hand to anything.
Unfortunately what starts out as quite a promising idea soon takes a headlong plunge into a silly & implausible tale.
For some reason about halfway through the author has moved from normal writing to staccato, presumably she thinks it told the tale better but I didn't like this clipped method at all & it certainly detracted in my opinion.
I will continue reading the series but would not be inclined to recommend this one.

I loved the sunshine and the way of life.
I looked forward to reading it each day and was sorry when it came to an end, albeit an end which was totally satisfying.


The story is centred around a British woman living in Greece and a Pakistani immigrant trying to raise money to take back to his impoverished family. He is a person who considers that the only way to succeed in life is to work hard and take nothing for granted whereas she appears to be thoughtless to others needs and rather self centred. As their relationship grows they become dependent on each other for different reasons, both have something to give and both take.
The outcome was that her life was enriched by his thoughtful actions and realisation that you got more back from giving and he benefited from her help with employment and education although he maintained his attitude all the way through that he worked for everything.
For me it was just so thought provoking. First of all how we can benefit from giving and secondly how long term friendships are made and last. It’s a book that will remain in my thoughts for a long time to come. Excellent!

All the story elements, as well as the characters, were interesting and different, and combined into a tale that drew me in right until the last page. (And that last page was brilliant, by the way.) I came away from the book having seen new places, and also having seen the world in general through some very different people’s eyes. I can highly recommend this book as a worthwhile read, and look forward to reading more in the series.