Set on the island of Crete, this multi-layered novel is of landscapes and lives shaped by an ancient ethos. When Michael, a Greek-American, visits his father’s village, he comes to believe that his grandmother, the proud Efpraxsia, has poisoned a German man to avenge the murder of her father during the war. As Michael struggles to deal with his sense of betrayal, his mind spins within an age-old memory. And Polly, a tourist befriended by the family, is caught in the coils of this haunting past as she weaves a tangled web of her own making and ultimate demise.