THREE SUMMERS

"That summer we bought big straw hats. Maria's had cherries around the rim, Infanta's had forget-me-nots, and mine had poppies as red as fire. When we lay in the hayfield wearing them, the sky, the wildflowers, and the three of us all melted into one..."

Three Summers is the story of three sisters growing up in Greece; their first loves, lies, and secrets; their shared childhood experiences and their gradual growing apart. Maria, the oldest, is strong, sensual, keenly aware of society's expectations. Infanta is beautiful, fiercely proud, aloof. Katerina is spirited, independent, off in a dream world of her own. There is also the mysterious Polish grandmother, the wily Captain Andreas, the self-involved Laura Parigori... Katerina tells the story of these intertwined lives with imagination, humor, deep tenderness, and a certain nostalgia. Three Summers is a romance with nature, with our planet. It is the declaration of a young girl in love with life itself.

When Three Summers was first published in Paris (Gallimard 1950) Albert Camus wrote, "The sun has disappeared from books these days. That's why they hinder our attempts to live, instead of helping us. But the secret is still kept in your country, passed on from one initiate to another. You are one of those (Rene Char, Jean Grenier, maybe five other writers) who pass it on. I feel a sense of complicity with this book.".