Amirosian Nights - Softcover

Ransdell, D. R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0887393764 ISBN 13: 9780887393761

Publisher: Creative Arts Book Co, 2002

Synopsis

The Greek island of Amiros offered everything Rachel wanted for her vacation: lovely beaches, leisurely afternoons at the seaside café, and evenings of bouzouki music at the local taverna. When a lucky accident lands her a job in a bouzouki band, she finds herself working among the locals--learning from them, struggling to communicate with them, loving them--and finding out a lot about herself. The foreign locale and locals provide the inspiration for romance and personal discovery triggered by music, language, and culture. If you have ever experienced the challenges of studying a foreign language, learning to play a musical instrument, or living in a foreign country, you will relate to Rachel's adventures on Amiros. She might not be able to remember vocabulary words, but she easily learns to love her adopted home.

About this title

About the Author

D.R. RANSDELL has traveled extensively in Greece and Mexico. She teaches ESL composition at the University of Arizona and moonlights as a mariachi player.

From the Inside Flap

"The novel is bursting with cross-cultural energy and sympathy, and the romance at its core is brought to life with brisk, unsentimental dialogue. This is a debut to treasure." Roger Bowen, author of Many Histories Deep: The Personal Landscape Poets in Egypt, 1940-1945.

"Ransdell highlights the musicality of Greece in this romantic novel. Amid the sumptuous island setting of Armios, her plucky young narrator--a mariachi player from Tucson--uncovers the heartstrings of her travels. Ransdell treats us as well to flavorful Greek idiom peppered with Spanish gusto." Patrick Baliani, author of "Figs and Red Wine."

Excerpt. Š Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Chapter One

"Nai?" Yes? snapped the waiter on his way to my table. Several sets of customers had plopped down at the outdoor cafe at once, and he didn't want to lose any of them. He was irritated, the kind of waiter who d started the job thinking it would be temporary and then, twenty years later, realized it wasn t.

"Ena frappe," I answered. "Gluko." An iced coffee with sugar. Thanks to the word "glucose," gluko was one of the few Greek words I could remember without trying to.

The man frowned as he wrote down my order. He hated giving up his table for a two-dollar coffee, and Mediterranean protocol would prevent him from hurrying me into leaving before I wanted to. If the coffee compensated for the jet lag the way I expected it to, that wouldn t be soon.

Dusk had rolled into the Plaka, and the relief brought by its shadows sparked action. The tables around me were buzzing with young Americans scribbling postcards, retired Northern Europeans having a last drink before going to bed, and small groups of Greeks for whom the evening was beginning. I kissed the summer air as a silent "thank you."

"You re going to Greece again?" my mother had asked a few weeks earlier. She was hoping I d spend the money on furniture some outward sign of settling down. Let s see I could have two weeks of listening to bouzouki music every night after a long day at the beach or buy a couch and matching chair. Why worry about furniture when my friends apartments looked the same way mine did? Besides, I was comfortable sitting on the floor .

I snuggled my shoulders into the chair. This was absolute comfort: a warm breeze, the cover of night, and the sweet enveloping of music. Maybe the night air was throwing stardust in the wind, but the keyboard player was looking better and better. The quick, jerky movements that punctuated his downbeats would work as well on a Latin dance floor. He had the right expression to go with them a sort of bemused pleasure, as if playing weren t constant rapture, yet he didn t mind that it wasn t, and anyway this was the next best thing. I was in perfect agreement .

I caught the keyboardist s eyes without trying to. He must have guessed by now that I was a musician too, or at least a music enthusiast with incredible patience, since I d been planted at the café almost as long as he had. I wondered if he were wondering the same thing I was where he was spending the night and with whom. A pleasant consideration. Suddenly he missed a chord, the first all evening, and had to look down at his hands. Then he looked at the bouzouki player, who hadn t noticed. When he caught my glance again we both grinned.

Edition details

• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Co
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0887393764
• ISBN 13: 9780887393761
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280