Η Μαρούλα της Λήμνου

Publisher: kedros (to be published in a new edition)
Edition: 2η (1η, 1991)
ISBN: 9789600404494

This is the first of the four historical novels relating to Byzantium. Maroula is a girl from a noble family, whose bravery and inspiration helps save the island from the invading Turks. The novel highlights a chain of historical events and social conditions in the second half of the 15th century. It is based on the military archives of Venice. Poets and historians present her as equal to Joan of Arc. Along with Maroula's legend, the novel revives Hellenism's painful adventure, which gave birth to the spiritual renaissance of the Western world.

I was born and raised on the land where Maroula Komninos fulfilled her destiny. I would say that her self-sacrifice was a magnetic source for me, an existential root. Her fading star, half-gone for centuries, fascinated me. The historical sources I had were scarce. I had to respect the history. I tried to portray her figure, as her biographer, to live and see through her, walk on the same ruined castle of Kotzino, I felt I had a debt to do so. People that once were beautiful shouldn't fade away!

Πρώτο Βραβείο Ακαδημίας Αθηνών, 1987