Eleni Cotton
I would love to say that writing has always been in my blood, that I was scribbling stories when I was three, but it simply wouldn’t be the truth.
I loved reading and my earliest memories of birthday presents from my parents (undoubtedly chosen by my mother!) were of books – lovely, shiny pages in books which when you opened them and sniffed near the spine , smelled of ‘new’, an indescribable smell, a smell that promised hours of entertainment, of adventure, of travel to any places your imagination could reach.
I think I started to write after my mother told me stories of her remarkable childhood in Malawi – where I also was born - and in particular about a revolution that she and her school mates had been caught up in, in the early twentieth century. The flight at night through the hills, the terror, the fatalities , all made a lasting impression on me and I started to write, a page here and a page there. I had always disliked writing essays but writing was starting to become compulsive.
My Story (continued)
Bertha was not only beautiful but had a wonderfully warm personality and many of my friends would tell me that I should write about this extraordinary woman. This and seeing grown men crying at Bertha’s funeral as they recalled her kindness to them when they first arrived in Nyasaland, immigrants from Greece. My father brought them home and she mothered them until they settled in. I was moved by this evidence of her caring nature which I and my three brothers had already experienced and saw how it extended to anyone in need; this sparked the writing bug for the Bertha Trilogy. ‘Bertha, the Swiss Trader’s Daughter was the result.
Another memory, that of the time when Dr. Banda’s government in Malawi took over the family’s substantial business and, presumably to keep us docile while they did it, imprisoned my brother without trial, an experience that was to lead to his early death after he was released eighteen months later. I and our six children had to flee the country when news reached us that we were next on the list - terrible experiences that never totally heal but which enabled me to write with heartfelt compassion and terror.
Growing up, the passions of my life were playing the piano and singing. I had been singing on stage at school since I was about nine or ten years old and, by the time I was fifteen – and still on that stage - I knew that, more than anything else in the world, I wanted to sing. Money or fame never entered my head: I just wanted, or maybe even needed, to sing.
When I told my father, a very traditional Greek, he was outraged. “Have you any idea what sort of women get onto a stage?” he thundered. I was naïve enough to be totally baffled by that but my father’s word was law – and I got a similar response to my next choices, surgery and architecture, apparently because I would be mixing with boys at university! I went to my room, cried buckets, swore that I would pine to death – and wrote instead. So, even setbacks seemed to lead to the final acceptance of the writing bug.
On the subject of broken dreams I would just add at this point that, following my marriage at eighteen, my husband had no objection to my singing and I had a fulfilling part time career in cabaret and on stage. Amongst other events I was asked to lead the cabaret at the Ball of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association when they stopped in Malawi en route to Zambia and that of the Lions International Conference the same year. On the academic side, when my youngest son was thirteen, I went to college and qualified as a lecturer. I believe that the writing of three dissertations (B.A.Hons., M.Sc. and P.G.C.E. ) gave me my first brutal lessons in ‘how to write’ and how NOT to write!
Frequent and long-stay holidays in Greece at our family holiday home opened my eyes to the corruption at every level of society but especially at the government ministerial level. This made me sad since, in crippling the economy, the corruption made it very difficult for the average Greek to make a decent living as well as leading to a sense of hopelessness in the young. My fingers started to itch and ‘Straight from the Donkey’s Mouth’ was born. But how to stop this book being depressing and full of the news of corruption which was already making headlines all over the world? Apollo and Hortensia to the rescue, two very intelligent donkeys who, since they had access to all the double dealings became involved in sorting things out!
The delectable Greek cuisine, modern Greek history and living there were to blame for the finger itch which led to the second book of the Bertha trilogy ‘Crumpets, Crocodiles and Baklava’ which contains a cameo appearance of a typical life on a remote Greek island in the north Aegean as well as European and African influences. Now, on to Volume 3!!!
I try to fit in a number of hobbies. Photography runs in the family as does cookery. Then there’s gardening, walking, painting and sketching, and animal welfare. And of course music and singing.
We have had three rescue dogs. Maddie, an archetypical Greek sheep dog was left by the side of the road in a white plastic bag and Calypso (heaven only knows what her mix was) was rescued by our son Francis when he was told by appalled villagers that she, a stray, was about to be hanged by some thugs ‘for a bit of fun’. Cassie, a poodle type, was bred by a friend and she stole my heart the first time I saw her having a tum-to-tum tussle with my friend’s kitten. All three have passed on now and oh, how it still hurts……….
I hope you enjoy reading ‘Straight from the Donkey’s Mouth’,
‘Bertha, the Swiss Trader’s Daughter’ and
‘Crumpets, Crocodiles and Baklava’.
Please write and tell me if you did!
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Bertha the Swiss Trader's Daughter
Bertha is a young woman, one of three daughters of Ludwig Deuss a Swiss national and Victoria, the daughter of a black Portuguese East African trader.
She is devastated when her father is deported from Nyasaland, now Malawi, on charges of spying for the German army during World War One. Victoria, known as A Mayi, the mother, and her daughters are left without male protection in a colonial, male-dominated and racist society. How are they to find their niche in this fragmented society? How will they avoid the expectation of falling into the traps laid for girls of mixed race?
Life is unpredictable, full of changes, dangers, turmoil and situations that will challenge Bertha and her sisters. These protofeminists grasp the opportunities that life tosses at them with a determination made of steel.
Difficulties that present themselves are fought with vigour and yet they still find time for fun, happiness - and love.
But will they find acceptance?
NOTE:
Following publication of this book I was asked to write articles for Family Tree magazine and Writers Services Online on ‘How to write your Family History’.
AVAILABLE to buy via - Amazon here
Bertha the Swiss Trader's Daughter costs £10.99 + P&P
Discounted rate for IPA or TGWF members (less £1.50) costs £9.49 + P&P
Contact me for details - elenicotton@outlook.com
eBooks - via Amazon - £3.49
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Crumpets, Crocodiles - and Baklava
The sequel finds Bertha having finished her schooling at eighteen and looking for something new, challenging and exciting to do. She soon finds out that a girl of mixed race is unlikely to find suitable employment above the level of domestic servant even with a c.v. that boasts eleven years of boarding school education with French nuns and fluency in four languages. She and her sister, Elsa, decide to start their own businesses but an unexpected offer from the Sharpe family – descendants of Sir Alfred Sharpe, illustrious Governor of Nyasaland - to employ her as a teacher of French, and Governess to Bobby, their seven-year-old daughter, appeals to her as a time to consolidate her plans and extend her acquaintance after years in boarding school. It was a wise choice since it changed the direction of her life in ways that she could never have imagined.
The Sharpes also have a son, Freddie, aged two-and-a-half and live in a spectacularly beautiful part of Nyasaland where the thousands of acres of tea shrubs present themselves as a rippling emerald sea brooded over by the towering, 10,000 foot, granite cliff of Mount Mulanje.
In stark contrast to everything we have seen so far, we sample quintessentially British life on a tea plantation in the middle of the African continent, a life of tennis and tea parties, archery and croquet. Here she is victimised by Fran Haze, a rabid racist against whom she has no defence. Her life is again turbulent and full of adventure as it was at the turn of the 20th century
This is the story of the girls’ fight for recognition and acceptance in a male-dominated, racist, colonial society. Life in that untamed land was one of adventure, unpredictability and sometimes sorrow but the girls overcame with a courage and determination forged of steel. The story is based on the true story of the author’s ancestors.
AVAILABLE to buy via - Amazon here
A set of two books 'Bertha the Swiss Trader's Daughter' and 'Crumpets, Crocodiles - and Baklava' costs £21.98 + P&P
Discounted rate for IPA or TGWF members (less £3.98) costs £18.00 + P&P
Contact me for details - elenicotton@outlook.com
eBooks - via Amazon - £3.49 each
Straight from the Donkey's Mouth
Greece is in chaos!
Years after the corruption of its politicians and the mismanagement of its economy exploded onto screens and newspaper headlines all over the world, the ruling elite is still up to its old tricks, spiriting away its euros to off-shore havens, neglecting to pay taxes and generally ignoring the laws of the land. And guess who is being made to pick up the tab? The population of course!
But it was not for nothing that Churchill said during the second world war that
until now, we knew that the Greeks were fighting like heroes; from now on we shall say that the heroes fight like Greeks.”
By unspoken agreement the Greeks are fighting back. They have formed an unseen army, one that fights not with guns but with wits. Their aim? First to outmanoeuvre their political masters and wrest just a little of the Brussels-sent goodies from the greedy elite; and second, to resist being bled to death by taxation.
The result? An army of mercenaries, an army with a shared mission but with many differing and opposing objectives. It’s every man or woman for him or herself. It’s survival of the fittest. It’s a race for the prize and no one is taking prisoners. It’s about allies and alliances, factions and feuds and tragedy and tears; but because they are Greeks there is always time for fun and feasting, for laughter and loving, because the Greek spirit is untameable.
The scene has been set for a very interesting period in Greek political and social history, but how will non-Greeks be affected, people who are planning to start a new life in the country, people like Serena and Peter, who love Greece and want to make their home there?
NOTE:
This book reached Kobo No. 1 spot for Greek Travel Section and No. 3 for International Travel Section.
AVAILABLE to buy via - Amazon here
eBooks - via Amazon - £3.49 each