About the Series
Daughter of Odysseus is a trilogy journeying the adventures of Christine.
Ithaka Calling is the first in the Daughter of Odysseus trilogy.
Teenage Christine stands at the threshold of adulthood. A first-generation Australian of Greek descent, Christine has always been indifferent to her heritage: Greek school is a bore; her father’s patriotism is uninspiring; and the people around her deride Greeks as subhuman.
Then Christine is betrayed by those closest to her, and she plunges into deep depression. From the abyss of despair and nihilism, something stirs within her: a deep desire to reclaim her heritage and find meaning and fulfillment through the tradition and spirituality of her ancestors.
Paralleling the great Odysseus’ journey home, Daughter of Odysseus is not merely a story of homecoming; it is a story of hope over despair, of adventure and love, of needing to belong and a yearning to escape from mundanity; of deep spiritual yearning in a post-Christian world.
Christine learns and grows with every step in her journey. And she can’t help but wonder: Is it the destination that is the goal or the journey and what one learns along the way that truly matters in life?
Ithaka Calling is the first in the Daughter of Odysseus trilogy.
Teenage Christine stands at the threshold of adulthood. A first-generation Australian of Greek descent, Christine has always been indifferent to her heritage: Greek school is a bore; her father’s patriotism is uninspiring; and the people around her deride Greeks as subhuman.
Then Christine is betrayed by those closest to her, and she plunges into deep depression. From the abyss of despair and nihilism, something stirs within her: a deep desire to reclaim her heritage and find meaning and fulfillment through the tradition and spirituality of her ancestors.
Paralleling the great Odysseus’ journey home, Daughter of Odysseus is not merely a story of homecoming; it is a story of hope over despair, of adventure and love, of needing to belong and a yearning to escape from mundanity; of deep spiritual yearning in a post-Christian world.
Christine learns and grows with every step in her journey. And she can’t help but wonder: Is it the destination that is the goal or the journey and what one learns along the way that truly matters in life?
The story behind the Book
Why did I write Daughter of Odysseus? In a nutshell: as therapy!
I’ve tried my hands at fiction writing before and had good experience with academic writing. I also love reading. However, fiction writing simply does not come naturally to me.
When I came back from Greece in 2003—not wanting to leave, not wanting to return to Australia, not wanting to leave the life and country I had come to love (despite all the problems I’d had)—I decided to reattempt a work of fiction: to pour all my disappointments and feelings of despair and bitterness onto the page; to recapture those moments of utter bliss that I could only experience in Greece.
Thus was born Daughter of Odysseus. Christine is based on me—of course, with lots of embellishments—and her story parallels my journey to the motherland and my attempts to establish my roots in the land of Plato and Leonidas. Gradually, after being exposed to the writings of Homer (again), I came to see Christine’s journey as similar to Odysseus’, in the sense that they were both searching for ‘home’ and had to fight to get to this home. Paralleling Christine with Odysseus came easily, and I relished creating a female character that could stand in line with Ancient Greek heroes in her sufferings and determinations and perseverance.
The need for roots, for tradition and sense of home, is innate in humans. I hope I have captured this through Christine!
I’ve tried my hands at fiction writing before and had good experience with academic writing. I also love reading. However, fiction writing simply does not come naturally to me.
When I came back from Greece in 2003—not wanting to leave, not wanting to return to Australia, not wanting to leave the life and country I had come to love (despite all the problems I’d had)—I decided to reattempt a work of fiction: to pour all my disappointments and feelings of despair and bitterness onto the page; to recapture those moments of utter bliss that I could only experience in Greece.
Thus was born Daughter of Odysseus. Christine is based on me—of course, with lots of embellishments—and her story parallels my journey to the motherland and my attempts to establish my roots in the land of Plato and Leonidas. Gradually, after being exposed to the writings of Homer (again), I came to see Christine’s journey as similar to Odysseus’, in the sense that they were both searching for ‘home’ and had to fight to get to this home. Paralleling Christine with Odysseus came easily, and I relished creating a female character that could stand in line with Ancient Greek heroes in her sufferings and determinations and perseverance.
The need for roots, for tradition and sense of home, is innate in humans. I hope I have captured this through Christine!
