Review: Beneath the Surface of a Pretty Greek Isle
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 21, 2014
When I was a girl, I found a copy of Mary Stewart'sThe Moon-Spinners (Rediscovered Classics)in the discount bin of one of my mother's favorite browsing stores.  The cover instantly intrigued me; it featured a moody swirl of indigo blue sky against which an odd windmill stood--chalky white walls and unfurled sails.  I had never seen a windmill like this before--growing up on Long Island afforded me glimpses of the Dutch style-types, but never one such as this--primitive and functional yet built to stand strong.  Little did I know that that book would become the overture for a lifelong romance with contemporary literature and the realization that a story contained between two pieces of board can transport one to a different time and place.  While it did take several readings to completely understand Stewart's themes of vendetta, greed and happenstance, her portrait of the wild Cretan countryside, scarred by war and long memories forever stamped my imagination.Now, in his novel, "The Threshing CIrcle," author Neil Grimmett recreates some of that savage beauty with his story that has its origins during the Cretan Resistance to the Germans during WW2 and conjures up brave images of tough mountain men in traditional dress willing to kill with their bare hands to protect their freedom.  But beneath the bravado and courage lie less exemplary events--the more sinister slings and arrows of family drama and jealousies that carry through to the present day, effecting the psyche and purpose of all involved through blood and association.In main character Kirsty's case, the appearance of a beautiful woman, Eleni, traveling with her husband and the villagers' stunned reactions are enough to catapult her into a portion of the Cretan mindset that she has no desire to know.  As a Scots woman running a kafeneion, she experiences her share of what she might deem the macho Greek character, especially in the formidable personage of Barba Yiorgos--a man of another generation who rankles her core sensibilities but  nonetheless proves to be wilier than an Odysseus with the sexual reputation of Pan.  All her protestations to keep to herself and distance herself from Barba Yiorgos amount to nothing when Eleni goes missing and the two must join forces to discover secrets rooted long ago.Grimmett's style is straight-forward which works well with the cut rock of the mountains and insular villages of his Cretan backdrop.  The romance is beautiful in its subtlety while the historical suffering of the Cretan people is rendered with emotional pathos that can only be expressed with the thunder of nuance--like a Zorba dance. Grimmett does this well and has his readers tapping their feet to the lyra and bouzouki.  Alas, this reviewer wishes for a different ending or perhaps a longer one, along with another installment where Kirsty explores the mystery of her own father's death.  But this is a circle, after all and a threshing one at that and Grimmett succeeds in offering his readers a novel that intrigues while delving into larger issues of life and death, meaning and purpose.Bottom line?  Neil Grimmett's novel "The Threshing Circle" oozes adventure teamed with the history of the Greek Island of Crete that is sure to please anyone with an Hellenistic spirit.  Keep in mind that "Circle" can be brutal in its depictions of sexual intent and executions.  Recommmended.Diana Faillace Von Behren"reneofc"