Wednesday, November 19, 2014


When The Sun Goes Down - Island Stories



Brilliant short stories from a unique & trenchant voice

By ruffusblossom on October 16, 2013


Format: Paperback


Strani-Pott's most recent collection further establishes her high position among 21st century authors and critics. Her previous book, The Cat of Portovecchio: Corfu Tales , stands as a singular example of short-story writing at its finest. This collection emphasizes the sundry metaphors of "the island": a physical, emotional, and/or a political territory isolated from the mainland by the vastness of the sea (itself a chimeric metaphor). One story in particular, "The Exploitation of Panorea," is as fine a parable as Kafka's "Hunger Artist" or Walser's "Battle Of Sempach." Strani-Pott, a Corfiot, cleverly situates her characters in narratives that require a strong sense of place, a temporal anchor. Like Flannery O'Conner's undeniable identification with the South, Strani-Pott's fiction is tied to the Ionian Islands and to the culture of freedom found there

When The Sun Goes Down - Island Stories

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This review is from: When The Sun Goes Down - Island Stories (Kindle Edition)
When the Sun Goes Down consists of some engaging and contrasting short stories written by the acclaimed Greek writer Maria Strani-Potts.

The first of these, Swimming in Bermuda, is the best, in my view. It tells the story of a chance encounter between two women, the English narrator and a local woman, who meet on a beach on this British-owned island in the North Atlantic Ocean. Their meeting is the pointer for tragic events to be revealed. The narrator has lost her husband, killed in Nairobi and is still grieving and reliving the past. The local woman's son was hanged many years before, allegedly for drug dealing. The two women come from very different backgrounds, but their connection to tragedy allows them to bond. Strani-Potts does not rush the story, but allows her keen eye and unhurried observation to extract pathos.

The Exploitation of Panorea sees Strani-Potts in serious mood with an allegory about the exploitation of an island in the Ionian Sea and the damage to the environment that has been caused. The author strikes hard with barely concealed passion. If Swimming in Bermuda is black with tragedy, The Exploitation in Bermuda is red with suppressed anger. Allegory is not to everyone's taste, but this story will have its advocates.

On the Beach is back where Strani-Potts clearly is comfortable, on an Ionian island. Five very different women, plus the narrator and her husband, come together to swim and chat, talk politics and drink ouzo. Suddenly they see a dead body in the sea. They are each caught up in the immediate drama of this event and the action they need to take. Then it is back to 'normality' and chatter. Strani-Potts is at her best. You can smell the seaweed, hear the lapping of the waves and taste the ouzo as this drama unfolds.

Mark Allen

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

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Poundbury Quilters

The Poundbury Quilters was founded in July 2010 by Maria Strani-Potts.  It is connected to the Quilters of Gamla Stan – Stockholm Sweden- a truly international group.

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