The Summer of My Greek Taverna : A Memoir

Shares The Author's Decision To Move His Family To Greece To Enter Into A Restaurant Partnership, After Which He Faced Painful Challenges And Came To Love The People And The Beauty Of Patmos Island. Appetizers 3 -- The Main Course 59 -- Just Desserts 171 -- Extra Helpings 201. Tom Stone.

The story of a man in love with a place, a woman, and a dream.

Tom Stone went to Greece one summer to write a novel -- and stayed twenty-two years. On Patmos, he fell in love with Danielle, a beautiful French painter. His novel completed and sold, he decided to stay a little longer.

Seven idyllic years later, they left Patmos for Crete. When a Patmian friend Theológos called and offered him a summer partnership in his beach tavérna, The Beautiful Helen, Stone jumped at the chance -- much to the dismay of his wife, who cautioned him not to forget the old adage about Greeks bearing gifts.

Her warning was well-founded: when back on Patmos, Stone quickly discovered that he was no longer a friend or patron but a competitor. He learned hard lessons about the Greeks' skill at bargaining and business while reluctantly coming to the realization that Theológos's offer of a partnership was indeed a Trojan horse.

Featuring Stone's recipes, including his own Chicken Retsina and the ultimate moussaka, The Summer of My Greek Tavérna is as much a love story as it is the grand, humorous, and sometimes bittersweet adventures of an American pursuing his dreams in a foreign land, a modern-day innocent abroad.

Los Angeles Times

It has been too long since our last good food-and-life books. I think of John Lanchester's The Debt to Pleasure or Pass the Polenta by Theresa Lust, not to mention the writings of M.F.K. Fisher or Elizabeth David. Now and then it is good to have these elegant reminders of slow meals and adventurous appetites.

The Summer of My Greek Taverna is also an expatriate's tale, the story of a writer and a painter and their two young children trying to live in a place that inspires them. Tom Stone adds something to his chosen genre: graphic descriptions of his own querulous doubt at each new decision. It is too easy to forget, in the Peter Mayle world, that these lives require a great deal of risk. There is never enough money, never enough security, and always one is forced to run on instinct: to trust strangers selling houses and, in Stone's case, Greeks bearing gifts. To stick to the dream. I have come to believe that these memoirs, well and honestly written like Stone's, are extremely important; for some of us, a map of the road not taken.

Tom Stone went to Greece one summer to write a novel -- and stayed twenty-two years. On Patmos, the tiny island where St. John received the apocalyptic visions recorded in the Book of Revelations, he fell in love with Danielle, a beautiful French painter. His novel completed and sold, he decided to stay a little longer. Seven idyllic years later, after the birth of their second child, they left Patmos for Crete, where Stone taught English to civil servants and Danielle painted icons for tourists. But Stone's heart was still on Patmos, and when a Patmian friend, Theológos, called and offered him a summer partnership in his beach tavérna, The Beautiful Helen, Stone jumped at the chance -- much to the dismay of his wife, who cautioned him not to forget the old adage about Greeks bearing gifts. Back on Patmos, Stone quickly discovered that he was no longer a friend or a patron but a competitor. He learned hard lessons about the Greeks' skill at bargaining, and about how truly effective the curse of the Evil Eye can be. There was no longer time to leisurely sip Greek coffee in the morning or linger over oregano-scented lunches with friends. The tavérna closed for the tourists at 3 A.M. and opened for the fishermen at 7; work sometimes seemed little more than a battle to stay awake. Spurring him on were the enormous profits that Theológos had assured him would materialize in August. And there were still the many joys of being back in Patmos: the beauty of the island, the friendships he had made over the years, and the adrenaline rush of success as news began to spread about Stone's cooking; yachts sailed over from Mykonos for dinner. But then came August, and the realization that Theológos had been cheating him out of thousands of dollars. His illusions shattered, Stone turned to his wife and children, who had been there all the time, offering their support. And their love. Featuring Stone's recipes, including his variation on the traditional Greek tzatzíki, his own Chicken Retsina, and the ultimate moussaka, The Summer of My Greek Tavérna is as much a love story as it is the grand, humorous, and sometimes bittersweet adventure of an American pursuing his dreams in a foreign land, a modern-day innocent abroad. The story of a man in love with a place, a woman, and a dream. Tom Stone went to Greece one summer to write a novel -- and stayed twenty-two years. On Patmos, he fell in love with Danielle, a beautiful French painter. His novel completed and sold, he decided to stay a little longer. Seven idyllic years later, they left Patmos for Crete. When a Patmian friend Theolgos called and offered him a summer partnership in his beach tavrna, The Beautiful Helen, Stone jumped at the chance -- much to the dismay of his wife, who cautioned him not to forget the old adage about Greeks bearing gifts. Her warning was well-founded: when back on Patmos, Stone quickly discovered that he was no longer a friend or patron but a competitor. He learned hard lessons about the Greeks' skill at bargaining and business while reluctantly coming to the realization that Theolgos's offer of a partnership was indeed a Trojan horse. Featuring Stone's recipes, including his own Chicken Retsina and the ultimate moussaka, The Summer of My Greek Tavrna is as much a love story as it is the grand, humorous, and sometimes bittersweet adventures of an American pursuing his dreams in a foreign land, a modern-day innocent abroad. Shares the author's decision to move his family to Greece to enter into a restaurant partnership, after which he faced painful challenges and came to love the people and the beauty of Patmos island, in a memoir complemented by the author's favorite recipes. Reprint. 30,000 first printing. The phone rang just as I was about to leave home and trudge through the raw Cretan winter to my tutoring job.