University of Queensland PressHarry Stylianou is an angry man, driven by a conviction that the world is not a safe place and that no one and nothing can be trusted. Since his arrival as an immigrant from Cyprus he has married an Australian woman, Carol, and has fathered two children, Angela and Andy. He has moved his family to Hampton, away from Melbourne’s Greek community. His anger encompasses work, life in general, family, neighbours and ‘Greekness’. Carol waits for the implementation of no-fault divorce legislation so that she can escape from her domineering husband. It is left to Andy to form a bond with their new Greek neighbour, Mr. Voreadis, who becomes an important figure for the ten-year-old boy as he provides worldly – and particularly Greek – wisdom for the youngster to digest. Concern over the attempted anti-government coup in Cyprus in 1974 finally brings about a meeting between Harry and their neighbour, and it is through Mr. Voreadis and his love of dancing that a temporary peace breaks out. However, in time the Stylianou family is destroyed from within by Harry’s limitless fury. John Charalambous has written an intimate story of the destruction of a family, played out against the suburban and migrant cultures of the 1970s. An overwhelming sense of missed opportunities leaves the reader wondering what might have been…
BiP staff review by Chris
