The Illegal Gardener (The Greek Village Collection Book 1) Description -
Sara Alexi weaves this entrancing story of the burgeoning relationship that develops between two people from very different backgrounds and cultures; an English woman living in Greece and the Pakistani illegal immigrant who becomes her gardener and house boy.
Each brings their own problems, their own past baggage, and she approaches these with sympathy and understanding as well as exploring the nuances and differences in therir cultures as they become more and more dependent on each other.
This is a book that will stay with you long after you've finished reading...
Generally the subject for each book I write comes to me, rather than me going out to look for ideas. I think this first story will always be special to me as it released me from my perceived limitations due to my dyslexia, to being a full time writer, or more accurately, a story teller.
Recent Greek hardships have been well documented and in 2012 my tiny holiday rental business folded after the first riots where shown on TV. I found myself at the age of 49 with no income, and nothing much to add to my resume for the past seven years that I had spent in this beautiful country.
So there I was, bemoaning my lot, thinking how awful my life was. Poor me!
I leaned on the window sill looking at the sunshine, wondering what the downturn in the economy was going to mean to me personally, and there in the heat of the day, down the narrow lane that leads to my house, was a man, squatting, pulling weeds for a neighbour. He looked Indian or Pakistani.
So I wandered out to where he was working and chatted to him, asked him about his life.
His English was not good and mostly he supplied one word answers. But it was clear that there was little work to be had. If he got work he would be paid between five and twenty euros a day, he told me.
Sometimes food was provided, but mostly not. He had been in Greece for two years.
We talked more. He had a wife and two children, one of whom he had not yet seen as he left when his wife was pregnant. He had no idea how or when he would return to her. He only earned enough to eat, if he was lucky.
There were another ten such men in the village, he said.
I was fuming. Purely by the circumstances of our births his life had taken one course, and mine another. The lottery of where we were born defined our existence.
My anger drove my passion and my passion said this man's tale must be told. So I gave the outline to a writer I knew and he replied 'You write it.' and passed it back. It didn't need saying twice. I was so angry on this man's behalf, and on behalf of all the others like him, that I wrote the book. It took me just over a month and was published on my 50th birthday.
I prayed that one copy would sell.
It sold over 300 the first day.
The Greek Village series that it gave birth to has sold over a million copies at time of writing. (Oct '16) and there are still more stories waiting to be told!
'A really intelligent, moving book.'
'Sensitive with beautifully crafted characters that you really cared about.'
'I was captivated from the start unable to put the book down.'
'The Illegal Gardener' is a delightful story, filled not only with love of Greece but a deep understanding of the varieties of love which can bring people together.'
'reminiscent of Remains of the Day.'
'The author has huge potential and if she keeps writing and developing like this then I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her name on a future Man Booker list!'
'A good tale well told. Shades of Steinbeck and Bradbury.'
'A most charming and sensitive book.'
If you like Gerald Durrell you'll love this book...
From INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLING AUTHOR Sara Alexi.
The first in the Greek Village Collection - Over 1/2 a MILLION download since first release.
Sara Alexi weaves this entrancing story of the burgeoning relationship that develops between two people from very different backgrounds and cultures; an English woman living in Greece and the Pakistani illegal immigrant who becomes her gardener and house boy.
Each brings their own problems, their own past baggage, and she approaches these with sympathy and understanding as well as exploring the nuances and differences in therir cultures as they become more and more dependent on each other.
This is a book that will stay with you long after you've finished reading...
A Note From the Author - Why I Wrote this Book
Generally the subject for each book I write comes to me, rather than me going out to look for ideas. I think this first story will always be special to me as it released me from my perceived limitations due to my dyslexia, to being a full time writer, or more accurately, a story teller.
Recent Greek hardships have been well documented and in 2012 my tiny holiday rental business folded after the first riots where shown on TV. I found myself at the age of 49 with no income, and nothing much to add to my resume for the past seven years that I had spent in this beautiful country.
So there I was, bemoaning my lot, thinking how awful my life was. Poor me!
I leaned on the window sill looking at the sunshine, wondering what the downturn in the economy was going to mean to me personally, and there in the heat of the day, down the narrow lane that leads to my house, was a man, squatting, pulling weeds for a neighbour. He looked Indian or Pakistani.
So I wandered out to where he was working and chatted to him, asked him about his life.
His English was not good and mostly he supplied one word answers. But it was clear that there was little work to be had. If he got work he would be paid between five and twenty euros a day, he told me.
Sometimes food was provided, but mostly not. He had been in Greece for two years.
We talked more. He had a wife and two children, one of whom he had not yet seen as he left when his wife was pregnant. He had no idea how or when he would return to her. He only earned enough to eat, if he was lucky.
There were another ten such men in the village, he said.
I was fuming. Purely by the circumstances of our births his life had taken one course, and mine another. The lottery of where we were born defined our existence.
My anger drove my passion and my passion said this man's tale must be told. So I gave the outline to a writer I knew and he replied 'You write it.' and passed it back. It didn't need saying twice. I was so angry on this man's behalf, and on behalf of all the others like him, that I wrote the book. It took me just over a month and was published on my 50th birthday.
I prayed that one copy would sell.
It sold over 300 the first day.
The Greek Village series that it gave birth to has sold over a million copies at time of writing. (Oct '16) and there are still more stories waiting to be told!
What other readers have to say about The Illegal Gardener ...
'A really intelligent, moving book.'
'Sensitive with beautifully crafted characters that you really cared about.'
'I was captivated from the start unable to put the book down.'
'The Illegal Gardener' is a delightful story, filled not only with love of Greece but a deep understanding of the varieties of love which can bring people together.'
'reminiscent of Remains of the Day.'
'The author has huge potential and if she keeps writing and developing like this then I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her name on a future Man Booker list!'
'A good tale well told. Shades of Steinbeck and Bradbury.'
'A most charming and sensitive book.'
If you like Gerald Durrell you'll love this book...
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