The Lucky Child

Marianne Apostolides

ISBN: 978-1-894469-47-0

$19.95 CDN/US
208 pp

How do we construct the story of ourselves and our countries? How do we know our histories, our memories, our identities? These are the questions that compelled Marianne Apostolides to ask her father about his childhood in wartime Greece. Her probing unleashed a torrent of stories he’d kept hidden, even from himself — stories about honour, bravery, vengeance and betrayal. The Lucky Child tells this tale with honesty and ambiguity. It is a novel that resonates with a deeper “truth”: the truth of our universal need to question and engage, to create our own meaning through shared story.

Praise for The Lucky Child

The Lucky Child is “ … exquisitely written…. a vibrant, multi-layered, image-rich book.” Gale Zoë Garnett, The Globe and Mail

“The Lucky Child is a significant addition to the growing stock of literature by Greeks of the Diaspora and their descendants.” James Karas, The Greek Press

“Much like her memorable characters, Apostolides’ prose pares the world down to bare essentials. We learn how to live and love and raise a family in wartime, and how to fight for country and ancestry when both are severely threatened.” Priscila Uppal

“The Lucky Child immerses us deeply into the lives of the Apostolides family during World War II, and the subsequent Civil War in Greece. Subtle in its execution, clear in its vision, with a narrative that is both incisive and heartfelt, the novel provides an excellent opportunity for readers to witness the private and unfathomable cost of
war, politics, and valour during one of the most troubling periods in modern Greek history. Its unanswered questions, both real and imagined, will haunt long after its final page is turned.” Tess Fragoulis

05.12.12
12 or 20 Questions with Marianne Apostolides 

09.21.10
The Diaspora Dialogues, with Marianne Apostolides

07.21.10
The Lucky Child reviewed in The Globe and Mail

06.12.10
At the Hamptons Greek Orthodox Church (Long Island, NY, Marianne Apostolides presented her novel The Lucky Child, on her father’s and grandfather’s experiences during World War Two and the Greek Civil War.

04.20.10
Marianne Apostolides on writing The Lucky Child in coffee shops (Toronto Star)

04.09.10
New Novel Examines Life in Greece During World War II (The Greek Press)