WALKING ON FIRE

An American takes a job in Greece as a speech therapist for children with disabilities and encounters unfavorable views of her country in Crawley’s novel.

Kate, a 25-year-old, recently divorced Texan speech therapist, leaves the United States for the first time to visit Greece. It’s 1974, and Greece has recently ousted its military dictatorship. Many Greek people have decidedly anti-American viewpoints, which makes Kate consider rethinking her move. When she finally arrives in Greece, she receives a rude political awakening. Growing up in conservative Texas, she’s only ever heard good things about her country, so she’s shocked to find that many Greek citizens blame the American government for what they suffered under the U.S.-backed junta. Still, most residents are friendly to her, even if they dislike where she comes from. Her employers, married couple Lena Stylianou and Yiannis Stylianou, are especially kind to her, helping her settle into her new surroundings and welcoming her into their lives. The Stylianous’ children, 8-year-old Aris and 10-year-old Soto, are equally pleasant, and Kate quickly develops a connection with Soto, who has cerebral palsy; she provides him with speech therapy sessions. Over the course of Kate’s first several months in Greece, she acclimates to the new culture, and grapples with her own shifting perceptions of America. Crawley ably develops her protagonist’s internal conflict with skillful prose, as when Kate meets a victim of the junta: “This artist with broken hands showed her kindness despite what her country had been complicit in doing to him. How could America, even indirectly, have sanctioned such crimes?” However, the novel occasionally strays into a tone of didactic moral absolutism, especially after Kate meets the attractive Thanasis, whose boyhood friend, Stelios, becomes something of a clichéd Communist villain as the story goes on. The protagonist’s naïveté and self-reflection are likely to endear her to readers, and the descriptions of Greek culture, history, and language are especially delightful.

An earnest, if uneven, tale of one woman’s overseas experience and conflicted patriotism.