THE SECRETS OF THE LITTLE GREEK TAVERNA

An American consumed with wanderlust comes to a Greek island where she feels strangely at home among the locals.

Palmisano’s debut overflows with the features of romantic escapism: beautiful scenery, delicious food, women empowered by gentle magical powers, and a variety of romances in which love must conquer complications. Since graduating from college seven years ago, the plucky heroine, Marjory “Jory” St. James, has worked as a waitress (proudly eschewing her estranged father’s wealth) to pay for her frequent travels. She heads, purposely without a guidebook, to the Greek island of Naxos and finds lodging in a village called Potamia. Oddly and too conveniently, she is the only tourist in a town touristy enough that an international boutique hotel chain wants to purchase the guesthouse where she’s staying. Jory becomes enmeshed in the lives of three villagers with special powers received from female ancestors and a magic stream. Guesthouse owner Cressida Thermopolis’ cooking imparts emotions with transformative powers to those who partake. Elderly Mago’s power lies in her ability to sew exactly what the wearer needs. Unhappily married Nefeli sees “portents.” But the three women are also suffering, Cressida emotionally immobilized after her young husband’s death, Mago afraid to marry her longtime lover because she might have cancer, and Nefeli unable to express love to or receive love from her husband. If Jory’s full-throttle acceptance by the others as they eat exquisite meals and share emotional wisdom is implausibly easy, plausibility is not the point. Meanwhile, Jory meets the obligatory handsome stranger, another seemingly footloose American traveler, and their mutual attraction overpowers her self-proclaimed desire to avoid emotional entanglement. But is he to be trusted? And will all these women come to grips with their fears and their powers to shape their futures? Is there any doubt?

Complete with a section of travel tips and a favorite recipe, Palmisano’s novel coddles the reader like an airplane blanket.