The most recommended books about Crete

Who picked these books? Meet our 20 experts.

20 authors created a book list connected to Crete, and here are their favorite Crete books.
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Freedom and Death

By Nikos Kazantzakes,

Book cover of Freedom and Death

Andrew R. Novo Author Of Restoring Thucydides: Testing Familiar Lessons and Deriving New Ones

From the list on history that resonates across time and place.

Who am I?

I'm a historian who teaches strategic studies at the National Defense University and Georgetown University in Washington, DC. I'm fascinated by how we write and teach history, how we interpret it, and how we use it. To use history, we have to “get it right,” but we also have to think about how the past impacts the present. One of the foremost challenges confronting historians is how to write the history of their particular subject well while making it applicable (and interesting) more universally. The following books are all particular to the region I study most closely—the Eastern Mediterranean—but their grasp of humanity is profound. Their power and perspectives ring true across millennia.

Andrew's book list on history that resonates across time and place

Why did Andrew love this book?

Kazantzakis is perhaps most famous for being excommunicated after he wrote The Last Temptation of Christ, but I think his best book is Freedom and Death. Freedom and Death was described as Kazantzakis’ “modern Iliad,” but it is more than a tale of heroes and war. It is about the struggle of the Cretan people for liberty and their desire to end the Ottoman occupation of their island at the end of the 19th century. In spite of the obvious morality of the cause of freedom, Kazantzakis paints a complex picture in which there are no obvious heroes and humanity’s faults are clearly visible. No character is more noble than the Turk, Nuri Bey. None more flawed than the novel’s Greek protagonist, Captain Michalis. Freedom and Death is also the powerful story of a man’s struggle against himself and the conflict between our personal interests and our…

By Nikos Kazantzakes,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Freedom and Death as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Freedom and Death


Aegean Linear Script(s)

By Ester Salgarella,

Book cover of Aegean Linear Script(s): Rethinking the Relationship Between Linear A and Linear B

James Clackson Author Of Language and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds

From the list on decipherment and lost languages.

Who am I?

I was lucky enough to have been taught Latin at school, and I remember my first teacher telling the class that a tandem bicycle was so called because Latin tandem means ‘at length’. That was the beginning with my fascination for words, etymologies, and languages. At University I was able to specialise in Greek, Latin, and Indo-European languages and then for my PhD I learnt Armenian (which has an alphabet to die for: 36 letters each of which has four different varieties, not counting ligatures!). I am now Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Cambridge. 

James' book list on decipherment and lost languages

Why did James love this book?

Linear A, the script that preceded Linear B in Crete, has long attracted attempts at decipherment. Ester Salgarella, who is a colleague of mine at Cambridge, would not claim to have deciphered Linear A, but her work on the script and its relation to Linear B is brilliant at reframing the question about the relationship between the two. If you read this after Andrew Robinson’s account of Linear A (in his Lost Languages book mentioned above), you might be surprised by how much progress has been made.  

By Ester Salgarella,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Aegean Linear Script(s) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When does a continuum become a divide? This book investigates the genetic relationship between Linear A and Linear B, two Bronze Age scripts attested on Crete and Mainland Greece and understood to have developed one out of the other. By using an interdisciplinary methodology, this research integrates linguistic, epigraphic, palaeographic and archaeological evidence, and places the writing practice in its sociohistorical setting. By challenging traditional views, this work calls into question widespread assumptions and interpretative schemes on the relationship between these two scripts, and opens up new perspectives on the ideology associated with the retention, adaptation and transmission of a…


Mani

By Patrick Leigh Fermor,

Book cover of Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese

Tony Spawforth Author Of What the Greeks Did for Us

From the list on travel in Greece, ancient and modern.

Who am I?

I became passionate about ancient Greece as a teenager when I studied the ancient languages and history at school. I was also lapping up ancient Greece on film—back then the so-so Burton-Taylor Cleopatra really impressed. I got enthused by historical novels too, Mary Renault’s especially. My first visit to Greece as a university student hooked me on modern Greece as well. Since then, I’ve become a professional academic specialising in ancient Greece and have been lucky enough to develop a lifelong relationship with modern as well as ancient Greeks. I lived in Greece for six years in my twenties, and have gone back repeatedly ever since. I’ve published widely on Greece’s ancient history and archaeology.

Tony's book list on travel in Greece, ancient and modern

Why did Tony love this book?

This book is a gem for lovers of Greece and of superlative English prose.

For me the book is far and away the best evocation of a wild and remote part of Greece that I got to know and treasure when tramping through its olive fields in search of ancient inscriptions. Leigh Fermor was incapable of writing a dull sentence.

His imagination allied with what he observed himself in his wanderings combine to bring out all the strangeness of Mani’s history of brigands and vendettas, of villages bristling with defensive towers and of fishermen descended—perhaps—from Byzantine emperors.   

By Patrick Leigh Fermor,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Mani as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is Patrick Leigh Fermor's spellbinding part-travelogue, part inspired evocation of a part of Greece's past. Joining him in the Mani, one of Europe's wildest and most isolated regions, cut off from the rest of Greece by the towering Taygettus mountain range and hemmed in by the Aegean and Ionian seas, we discover a rocky central prong of the Peleponnese at the southernmost point in Europe.

Bad communications only heightening the remoteness, this Greece - south of ancient Sparta - is one that maintains perhaps a stronger relationship with the ancient past than with the present. Myth becomes history, and…


Vineyard Tales

By Gerald Asher,

Book cover of Vineyard Tales: Reflections on Wine

Kathleen Burk Author Of Is This Bottle Corked? The Secret Life of Wine

From the list on for those who like wine.

Who am I?

I’m the daughter of a Californian grape farmer, and have driven tractor, picked grapes, and tied vines. Whilst at Berkeley, I travelled around Napa Valley tasting wines whilst riding pillion on a 750 cc motorcycle; at Oxford I discovered European wines. Thereafter, I was a professor of modern and contemporary history in London, writing nearly a dozen books, and continuing to explore wines with my husband. I have wine in my bones. I now travel around the world tasting it, writing about it, judging it, and leading tasting tours, all the while continuing to drink it. I am currently writing a book on the global history of wine.

Kathleen's book list on for those who like wine

Why did Kathleen love this book?

Gerald Asher is a wine writer who is celebrated for his range, his knowledge, his ability to see below the surface of things, and his compelling writing style. This book of essays about wine is one of my favourites, ranging as it does from wines with food, in which he goes in unexpected directions, to whether or not and how to decant wines, to drinking wine in Greece surrounded by the gods, to wines from Portugal and California and Oregon and Italy and France. He takes me to places I’ve never been and to wines I’ve never drunk, all with no effort on my part. Along the way, I learn and I enjoy. What a pleasurable book!

By Gerald Asher,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Vineyard Tales as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Napa Valley Cabernet, a French Burgundy, an Orvieto Classico shared among friends in the Umbrian hills—every wine has a story, and Gerald Asher tells it best. Asher, longtime wine editor of Gourmet magazine, has an unsurpassed knowledge of vineyards, wineries, and wines. He also has the refreshing ability to write about wine informatively and entertainingly, without technical jargon. Now in paperback, Asher's delightful Vineyard Tales evaluates wines from around the world—from secret sun-drenched vineyards on Crete to the celebrated Champagne houses of France—setting each wine in the context of a region's history and culture. In addition, Asher offers an…


The Moon-Spinners

By Mary Stewart,

Book cover of The Moon-Spinners

Pauline Baird Jones Author Of Relatively Risky

From the list on thrilling, chilling, romantic, blush-free reads.

Who am I?

I feel like I’ve read all of my life—though I know at some point someone had to teach me—but stories and storytelling are in my DNA. The first four books were my writing “primers.” I learned more about storytelling from them than any how-to book. They also fueled my passion to write in different genres. You will notice the words “blush free” in some of my recommendations. That is because I love well-told stories that live between prim and steamy, books where I don’t have to flip past the steamy stuff to get back to the story. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Pauline's book list on thrilling, chilling, romantic, blush-free reads

Why did Pauline love this book?

I found The Moon-Spiners through a Disney movie of the same name (book was better). When I found out it was also a book, I went hunting at my local library and fell in love with the way Stewart immediately pulled me into her stories, evoking awe, fear, laughter ,and romance. She wafted me away to exotic places, and into exciting and romantic adventures with strong female characters. I went on to read all her books, even the Arthurian ones, but her romantic suspense books remain my favorites and the ones I turn to when I need a comfortable visit with old fictional friends. 

By Mary Stewart,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Moon-Spinners as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Impetuous and attractive, Nicola Ferris has just arrived in Crete for a holiday when she sees an egret fly out of a lemon grove. On impulse, she follows the bird’s path into the White Mountains. There she discovers a young Englishman who, hiding out in the hills and less than pleased to have been discovered, sends Nicola packing with the order to keep out of his affairs. This, of course, Nicola is unable to do, and before long events lead to a stunning climax among the fishing boats of Agios Georgios Bay.

            In this bestselling novel, first published in 1963…


The Egyptian

By Mika Waltari, Naomi Walford (translator),

Book cover of The Egyptian: A Novel

Matthew C. Lucas Author Of Yonder & Far

From the list on historical fiction with a twist of myth and magic.

Who am I?

A longtime traveler and lifelong fan of epic fantasy and historical fiction, I’m fascinated by the crossroads where these two genres meet. My novels and short stories always keep a foot (or two) in both of these realms. For anyone who has ever climbed the Pyramid of the Magician, or wandered the Black Forest, or gazed upon the Roman aqueducts (or maybe just thought about an old house on a forgotten hill) and wondered, “What would it have been like if?” I think you’ll enjoy the books on this list.

Matthew's book list on historical fiction with a twist of myth and magic

Why did Matthew love this book?

A traveling physician, Sinuhe, bears witness to a time of religious turmoil in ancient Egypt. The clash between the “mad” Pharaoh Akhenaten’s new monotheistic faith and the traditional pantheon of Egypt’s deities sweeps Sinuhe into the throes of war and politics. An epic in the truest sense, yet this sweeping story never spares on the granular details of everyday life under the pharaohs; one can almost feel the hot sun and smell the fertile banks of the Nile through the pages. The Egyptian might very well be the perfect historical fiction novel (one that was later turned into an academy award nominated movie). Though it is no longer in print, this book is well worth the effort to track down a copy.

By Mika Waltari, Naomi Walford (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Egyptian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in the 1940s and widely condemned as obscene, The Egyptian outsold every other American novel published that same year, and remains a classic; readers worldwide have testified to its life-changing power. It is a full-bodied re-creation of a largely forgotten era in the world’s history: an Egypt when pharaohs contended with the near-collapse of history’s greatest empire. This epic tale encompasses the whole of the then-known world, from Babylon to Crete, from Thebes to Jerusalem, while centering around one unforgettable figure: Sinuhe, a man of mysterious origins who rises from the depths of degradation to get close to…


The Villa Ariadne

By Dilys Powell,

Book cover of The Villa Ariadne

Tony Spawforth Author Of What the Greeks Did for Us

From the list on travel in Greece, ancient and modern.

Who am I?

I became passionate about ancient Greece as a teenager when I studied the ancient languages and history at school. I was also lapping up ancient Greece on film—back then the so-so Burton-Taylor Cleopatra really impressed. I got enthused by historical novels too, Mary Renault’s especially. My first visit to Greece as a university student hooked me on modern Greece as well. Since then, I’ve become a professional academic specialising in ancient Greece and have been lucky enough to develop a lifelong relationship with modern as well as ancient Greeks. I lived in Greece for six years in my twenties, and have gone back repeatedly ever since. I’ve published widely on Greece’s ancient history and archaeology.

Tony's book list on travel in Greece, ancient and modern

Why did Tony love this book?

This book brings back to life the pioneering British archaeologists who, basing themselves at the atmospheric Villa Ariadne, rediscovered the prehistoric civilisation of the Minoans at Knossos on the island of Crete.

I love this book because it brings back memories of when I excavated at Knossos—the local workmen lowered an apprehensive me into an ancient well to measure its depth and I stayed next door to the Villa, taking walks in the surrounding countryside carpeted with wildflowers.

The Villa was purloined by the Germans in World War II. The book also taught me about the bravery of the Cretan resistance to the Nazis, including the dramatic kidnap of a German general on the Villa’s doorstep. 

By Dilys Powell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Villa Ariadne as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Villa Ariadne is a meditation on the island of Crete, centred on the house built by Sir Arthur Evans, the famous archaeologist of Knossos. Dilys Powell captures the spirit of a place she loved dearly and a group of people she knew well, from local Cretans to the archaeologists Evans and Pendlebury, and the German General Kreipe who was famously kidnapped on the island by Paddy Leigh-Fermor in one of the most audacious actions of World War II. Weaving the myths of the island with its archaeology, ancient history and modern tales, she gives us a loving portrait of…


Book cover of The Sword of Honour Trilogy

Simon Akam Author Of The Changing of the Guard: the British army since 9/11

From the list on the British Army.

Who am I?

In 2003-4 I spent a year in the British Army between school and university. Ten years later, having become a journalist, I returned to investigate what a decade of war had done to the institution I knew as an adolescent. In the years I spent researching and writing The Changing of the Guard I read reams of non-fiction. However, novels retain an ability to hit wider – or harder truths – and some of our greatest writers have fictionalised British Army life. Here is a selection of British Army novels, well-known and less so. They take in conflicts ranging from the First and Second World Wars through to Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. 

Simon's book list on the British Army

Why did Simon love this book?

I have a theory that great fiction about the British Army may require conscription – that system propelled individuals who otherwise would have never joined the military into the institution. They could then respond in writing in a manner that peacetime volunteers were never able to.

Evelyn Waugh, already in his late 30s when the Second World War was declared in 1939, was an unlikely soldier. However, he turned his experiences – notably in West Africa, Crete, and Yugoslavia – into a trio of fine fiction centered on a somewhat Waugh-like character, Guy Crouchback.

Waugh’s genius is to capture some of the eccentricities of army life – the discussion about the merits of porpoise skin as a material for boots will echo with anyone who has ever overheard, or participated in, an earnest discussion about the minutiae of kit. 

By Evelyn Waugh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sword of Honour Trilogy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Intimacies

By Lucy Caldwell,

Book cover of Intimacies

Carolyn Mathews Author Of Transforming Pandora

From Carolyn's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Creator Meditator Messenger Shopaholic

Carolyn's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Why did Carolyn love this book?

I chose this book of short stories because I loved Caldwell's winning entry for the 2021 British National Story Award: "All the People Were Mean and Bad" included in this book. 

This story focuses on an encounter between the mother and an attentive man in the next seat who fetches milk for the hungry child. We learn she's an architect, lonely and yearning to return to her profession, dreading becoming pregnant again, as her husband is often away.

As I read this book on a flight to Crete, I observed a baby being nursed by an extended family, each taking turns to amuse the little one. And I thought, if only all parents had such loving support to help them cope.

By Lucy Caldwell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Intimacies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*Includes the winner of the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award*

'Smart, nuanced and sometimes heart-stopping.' Anne Enright
'Outstanding.' Guardian
'Eleven perfect stories.' Irish Independent
'Glorious.' The Times
'My FAVE collection ever.' Pandora Sykes

In eleven stories, Intimacies exquisitely charts the steps and missteps of young women trying to find their place in the world. From a Belfast student ordering illegal drugs online to end an unwanted pregnancy to a young mother's brush with mortality, and from a Christmas Eve walking the city centre streets when everything seems possible, to a night flight from Canada which could change a life…


The Island

By Victoria Hislop,

Book cover of The Island

Barbara Josselsohn Author Of Secrets of the Italian Island

From the list on set on an intriguing island or coastline.

Who am I?

A native of New York’s Long Island, I’ve always been obsessed with the shoreline. My best early memories are of traveling with my family to the eastern edge of Long Island for our two-week summer vacation. My parents didn’t earn a lot of money, and we didn’t vacation often, so those two weeks in August were heavenly. As an adult, I gravitate to coastlines and islands. I’ve always been a fan of books with a strong sense of place, especially when that place is the shore. And I loved setting my current book on an island in the Mediterranean, delving into the qualities and characteristics that make a coastline so evocative and so appealing. 

Barbara's book list on set on an intriguing island or coastline

Why did Barbara love this book?

Have your tissues ready!

Alexis, a present-day heroine, travels to her mother’s childhood home in Greece, intent upon learning the family’s hidden story. Arriving there, she spies the island of Spinalonga, once an actual leper colony. Hislop then switches time periods, taking the reader to the mid-twentieth century, when leprosy and war tore families apart.

I found Hislop’s writing gentle yet wrenching, and I was heartbroken by scenes between mothers and children who had to separate forever due to illness. But I was moved, too, by the strength, resilience, and capacity for love shown by many of the characters.

I enjoy novels that are based on history, with protagonists who are tested to their very limits. I won’t soon forget this book, and I bet you won’t either!

By Victoria Hislop,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An atmospheric, vibrant and moving first novel from an exciting new author. On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of…


The Alexandria Quartet

By Lawrence Durrell,

Book cover of The Alexandria Quartet

Peter Guttridge Author Of City of Dreadful Night

From the list on quartets and trilogies with unreliable narrators.

Who am I?

I’m fascinated by long stories where things aren’t exactly as they seem. Most crime fiction is secrets and lies and their eventual uncovering but most ‘literary’ fiction is too. For what it’s worth, I was a book reviewer for all the posh UK papers for about 15 years, including crime fiction critic for The Observer for twelve (so I’ve read far more crime novels than is healthy for anyone!). I’m a voracious reader and writer and I love making things more complicated for myself (and the reader) by coming up with stuff that I’ve then somehow got to fit together.  

Peter's book list on quartets and trilogies with unreliable narrators

Why did Peter love this book?

Not crime although there are crimes in it. The narrative structure of the quartet was a major influence on structuring my trilogy. The first three present different versions of the same events and characters in Alexandria, Egypt before and during the Second World War. In Book 1, a self-absorbed, pretentious narrator, Darley, presents an account of an intense love affair. In book 2, Balthazar shows how ignorant he was about what was really going on about him. Mountolive widens the political context and shows both earlier narrators were looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Book 4 manages to tease out yet more solutions to mysteries thought resolved.

By Lawrence Durrell,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Alexandria Quartet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rediscover one of the twentieth century's greatest romances in Lawrence Durrell's seductive tale of four tangled lovers in wartime Egypt that is 'stunning' (Andre Aciman) and 'wonderful' (Elif Shafak)

'A masterpiece.' Guardian

'A formidable, glittering achievement.' TLS

'One of the great works of English fiction.' Times

'Dazzlingly exuberant ... Superb.' Observer

'Brave and brazen ... Lush and grandiose.' Independent

'Legendary ... Casts a spell ... Reader, watch out!' Guardian

'Lushly beautiful ... One of the most important works of our time.' NYTBR

Alexandria, Egypt. Trams, palm trees and watermelon stalls lie honey-bathed in sunlight; in darkened bedrooms, sweaty lovers unfurl.…


Archaeology and the Senses

By Yannis Hamilakis,

Book cover of Archaeology and the Senses: Human Experience, Memory, and Affect

Hannah Platts Author Of Multisensory Living in Ancient Rome: Power and Space in Roman Houses

From the list on multisensory history.

Who am I?

My passion for ancient history and archaeology began in secondary school when I started learning Latin and we were taken on a field trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace. By the time I started my MA at Bristol, my obsession with ancient Roman housing was well and truly established, and it quickly became clear to me that this was the area that I wanted to study for my PhD. Now as an Associate Professor in Ancient History and Archaeology at Royal Holloway, University of London, I have been very lucky to study and teach a range of areas in ancient history and archaeology, including my beloved area of the Roman domestic realm. 

Hannah's book list on multisensory history

Why did Hannah love this book?

Hamilakis’s Archaeology and the Senses was one of the first books I read when starting to explore multisensory history, and it totally altered my view of how we study the past.

Focusing on Bronze-Age Crete, Hamilakis examines how archaeology has engaged with the bodily senses thus far and critiques its emphasis on sight and the traditional hierarchy of the five senses in the west.

Moreover, he proposes an innovative and exciting means by which archaeology can move beyond its focus on visual experiences of artefacts, environments, and materials to bring in lost and neglected, yet just as important, bodily senses such as sound, smell, taste, and touch.

Through this approach to archaeology he seeks to evoke a deeper, richer insight into the breadth of human experience in past societies.

By Yannis Hamilakis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Archaeology and the Senses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book is an exciting new look at how archaeology has dealt with the bodily senses and offers an argument for how the discipline can offer a richer glimpse into the human sensory experience. Yannis Hamilakis shows how, despite its intensely physical engagement with the material traces of the past, archaeology has mostly neglected multi-sensory experience, instead prioritising isolated vision and relying on the Western hierarchy of the five senses. In place of this limited view of experience, Hamilakis proposes a sensorial archaeology that can unearth the lost, suppressed, and forgotten sensory and affective modalities of humans. Using Bronze Age…


Zorba the Greek

By Nikos Kazantzakis,

Book cover of Zorba the Greek

Cinda Crabbe MacKinnon Author Of A Place in the World

From the list on multicultural stories set in exotic lands.

Who am I?

I grew up in Latin America (& briefly in Europe) and my connections and regard for the people, culture, and natural setting resulted in my novel, A Place in the World. I have lived in six countries and appreciate the experiences. I love languages and history and like to travel, at least vicariously with a good book. I hope you enjoy my book picks as much as I have! I am a writer, former university lecturer, and environmental scientist, with an MS in geology and a passion for botany. This background enabled me to weave aspects of natural science, as well as Latino culture, into my writing.

Cinda's book list on multicultural stories set in exotic lands

Why did Cinda love this book?

I love this tale narrated by a young academic who teams up with an exuberant, older working man named Zorba, “a passionate lover of wine, women and song” ...and dance. The younger man is more of a staid introvert. They are in a village in Crete to develop a mine. Their interactions are both amusing and philosophical. This contrasts with one horrific event where the appalled narrator struggles to understand the village’s moral codes which conflict with his own. In the final scene as he comes out of his shell, he asks Zorba to teach him to dance.

This is one of my favorite all-time novels. Kazantzakis words are to be savored.

By Nikos Kazantzakis,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Zorba the Greek as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This moving fable sees a young Greek writer set out to Crete to claim a small inheritance. But when he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek man with a zest for life. Zorba has had a family and many lovers, has fought in the Balkan wars, has lived and loved - he is a simple but deep man who lives every moment fully and without shame. As their friendship develops, he is gradually won over, transformed and inspired along with the reader.

Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis' most popular and enduring novel, has its origins in the author's…


Doctors Wear Scarlet

By Simon Raven,

Book cover of Doctors Wear Scarlet

Suzanne Ruthven Author Of Charnel House Blues: The Vampyre's Tale

From the list on vintage bite for vampire lovers.

Who am I?

I started my professional writing career in 1987 having founded the small press writers’ magazine, Quartos, which ran for nine years until its merger with Acclaim in 1996 to become The New Writer, as well as authoring several creative writing how-to books – including Horror Upon Horror.  In addition to acting as judge for national writing competitions, I've also tutored at writers’ workshops including The Annual Writers’ Conference (Winchester College), The Summer School (University of Wales), Horncastle College (Lincolnshire), and the Cheltenham Literature Festival.  Having been a staunch supporter of the Gothic Society and a regular contributor to its quarterly magazine, Udolpho, I have also created the series of The Vampyre’s Tale novels.

Suzanne's book list on vintage bite for vampire lovers

Why did Suzanne love this book?

Simon Raven had a marked fascination for the supernatural that first manifested in an early novel Doctors Wear Scarlet, which was cited by Karl Edward Wagner (himself an award-winning American writer, poet, editor and publisher of horror and writer of numerous dark fantasy and horror stories), as one of the thirteen best supernatural novels. The story is set against Raven’s customary background of academia and University life and has a distinctly macabre and spine-chilling theme. It starts harmlessly enough with a young man’s infatuation for a beautiful Greek girl, but Chriseis is no ordinary holiday love affair; three friends track down their missing companion across the Aegean, where it becomes increasingly obvious that their relationship is strange to say the least. Despite dispatching Chriseis in the remote mountains of Crete and not without cost to themselves, the missing scholar is returned to his University – but the curse of…

By Simon Raven,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Doctors Wear Scarlet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Richard Fountain, a promising young Cambridge scholar, went to the island of Crete to study ancient rites and pagan rituals before suddenly and inexplicably breaking off all contact with the outside world. Disturbing rumors have filtered their way back to England, whisperings of blasphemous rituals and obscene orgies, hints of terrible crimes and wanton murder . . .

Three of Richard’s friends travel to Greece to find him and bring him back. Following a grim progression of ominous clues, they will arrive at last at an abandoned fortress high in the wild and desolate White Mountains, where they will discover…


The Year-god's Daughter

By Rebecca Lochlann,

Book cover of The Year-god's Daughter

Greta van der Rol Author Of To Die a Dry Death: The True Story of the Batavia Shipwreck

From the list on historical fiction that carry you to another time.

Who am I?

I've always been interested in history, which is probably why I ended up with a BA(Hons) in history. One of the things that historical fiction can do better than a historical text is to take you there, let you live the events as they happened. It's important that the facts are correct, but so is the setting. The narrative has to be believable and convincing. I've done that with my own book, To Die a Dry Death, and I expect nothing less from the books I read.

Greta's book list on historical fiction that carry you to another time

Why did Greta love this book?

This book will transport you straight back to the Crete of the Bronze Age. I felt I was taking every step with the characters. Each setting, whether it be the marketplace in the village, the palace, and the underground prison cells, is meticulously described. The society, bound by ritual and ruled by a queen and her priestesses who are constantly searching for signs of approval from the goddess, is utterly believable. It's a fascinating mix of actual history and myth, where the Gods and Goddesses are as real as they were to the people living in those times.

By Rebecca Lochlann,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Year-god's Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The Year-God’s Daughter succeeds in bringing to life a very distant world and capturing a heady blend of archaeology, legend, myth and fantasy." Judith Starkston, author of Hand of Fire.

Award Honoree of the BRAG Medallion for outstanding fiction.

Book One, The Child of the Erinyes series. A Saga of Ancient Greece. Epic historical fantasy inspired by Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur.

Step into the Bronze Age. . . .

Crete: A place of magic, of mystery, where violence and sacrifice meet courage and hope.

Aridela: Wrapped in legend, beloved of the people. An extraordinary woman who dances with bulls.…


Report to Greco

By Nikos Kazantzakis,

Book cover of Report to Greco

Odie Hawkins Author Of Shackles Across Time

From the list on understanding the human condition.

Who am I?

I am a great African-American writer because I have not spent eons in jail (taught writing classes there), never been shot by the police (yet), and I have a number of interesting books for sale ranging from Urban, Erotic, Science-Fiction, Fiction and Pan-African Occult. My books have been used in writing classes in colleges, universities, and prisons. I was one of the panelists for Professor Justin Gifford's presentation at the Modern Language Association Conference at the Hilton, LA Live. Also, I participated in a California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) event, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the “Watts Rebellion”. I have agreed to let this university archive my works.

Odie's book list on understanding the human condition

Why did Odie love this book?

This Cretan writer, who is most often identified as a Greek, asks us to probe our deepest identity, to be honest with ourselves. I think that that should be the first premise of an honest writer…an honest person. When you are born you are told early what to believe. Why you should believe. Who you and what you should believe or not believe in. At some point in your own life, you must resolve what you yourself accept for your own belief system. You should determine what is or is not important to you. Only then can you live YOUR LIFE.

By Nikos Kazantzakis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Report to Greco as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kazantzakis's autobiographical novel Report to Greco was one of the last things he wrote before he died. It paints a vivid picture of his childhood in Crete, still occupied by the Turks, and then steadily grows into a spiritual quest that takes him to Italy, Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Russia and the Caucasus, and finally back to Crete again. At different times Nietzshe, Bergson, Buddha, Homer and Christ dominate as his spiritual masters.