When journalists Marjory McGinn and her partner Jim Bruce decided to quit their jobs and venture to crisis-stricken Greece in 2010 with their ‘crazy’ terrier Wallace for a ‘midlife odyssey’, it wasn’t looked upon as the brightest idea.

But what was meant to be a one-year stint turned into three very exciting and turbulent years.

Marjory, overcome with inspiration amidst navigating her way with copious amounts of determination, yet limited language skills, wrote the successful travel memoir Things Can Only Get Feta, and now the recently-released sequel Homer’s Where The Heart Is.

In her latest instalment, the Scottish-born writer picks up where she left off, giving the reader further insight into life in the Peloponnese, with many of the same faces from the first book.

“We had been in Greece at such an exceptional time in its history, where old-style Greece was on the verge of changing forever. I wanted to capture a bit of that while I could,” Marjory tells Neos Kosmos.

The couple, together with Wallace, had been residing in a hillside village in Mani for two years, when they began to face their biggest challenge as the chaos of the economic crisis started to impact the local villagers.

Drawing on her past experiences during another dark time in the country’s history, in the 1970s under the military dictatorship of the junta, the reader can draw eerie comparisons.

Though Marjory admits, “the sequel is slightly more serious as the crisis intensified and began to impact on everyone”, it’s not all gloom and doom.

With colourful characters such as goat farmer Foteini and their neighbour Orestes, who refuses to abide by the law, there are many laugh out loud moments as the pair continue to explore the region.

Having worked for many years as a journalist in Sydney, before returning to Scotland in 2000, there’s no doubt the delectable climate and natural beauty of Greece was an appealing change for the writer; but she insists it’s “the people” who draw her back time and time again.

“I have always loved Greek people for their great warmth, filoxenia, stoicism, religious inclination, filotimo, a unique Greek word meaning sense of honour,” she says.

“Greeks have also created a unique environment; they have managed to distill the art of simplicity, for want of a better word. They can derive pleasure from uncomplicated things, like their easy social gatherings – a meal of mezedes with family and friends, sitting around a table beside the sea, and a lot of kefi thrown into the mix.”

Having identified as a Philhellene for many years, she recalls it all starting with a girl by the name of Anna at the age of nine.

After immigrating down under with her family, she befriended a Greek Australian who welcomed her into her Greek family life.

Hooked, once in her twenties she travelled to Europe – her first stop Athens – to teach English for a year and to learn the language of the country that had captured her heart.

“Greece alters me as a person every time I am there. It makes me feel more at ease and I feel freer there than I do in any other place.

Greeks give you that. They give you space because they are less rule-bound than many other societies, and I hope the current situation doesn’t change that. It’s what we all seek in life – a space to be completely free,” she explains.

For Marjory, writing has presented an opportunity to share a true, first-hand account of her experiences of life in rural Greece and to share the positive aspects of life in the southern Mediterranean, even during this difficult period.

“It was rewarding to share a ‘good news’ story about Greece to counter all the negative press Greece was getting at the height of the crisis with clichés about Greeks being work-shy and corrupt – that affected Greeks deeply,” she observes.

For the writer, the reality she witnessed – the one she wishes to convey – is a whole different story.

“I think the demands on Greece have been outrageous and show a lack of concern for what ordinary Greeks have suffered during the crisis. Greeks are right to feel that at the very least they are starting to lose control of their own destiny.

“I hope that non-Greeks will read my books and realise that the clichéd stories they have been reading in the media about Greeks are untrue. I want them to understand what Greeks have suffered during the crisis and that they are amongst the hardest working people in Europe, some of whom work all day, every day, all summer and then go out in the winter and do a back-breaking olive harvest,” Marjory tells.

Now living back in the UK while the country continues into a future of uncertainty, she looks on with grave concern for those she met along the way.

“I don’t know how the Greek people will cope with more cutbacks, job loses and tax hikes,” she says.

“I met a young Greek teacher in Koroni, in the Messinian peninsula this year, who was teaching Greek to foreigners. He has not been paid for a year by the government and has a young family to support, and has survived only on the help from his parents. It’s people like him that I think of at this time.”

But while the austerity measures continue, the Philhellene has a somewhat controversial suggestion for the creditors.

“Instead of the EU trying to shoehorn the Greeks into a northern European template, which is never going to work, they should perhaps try become a bit more Greek themselves – a bit more chilled, compassionate, and accepting. The EU might be a happier place if it adopted the Zorba philosophy on life!”

Embarking on this candid memoir, Marjory’s passion for Greece, its people and their ways is unmistakeable.

Describing her surroundings with intimate detail, and a touch of light-hearted humour, as Greece was an escape for the writer, so it becomes for the reader, too.

And if anything, she can rest assured that her aim has been achieved: “If I can give non-Greeks a tiny window into the Greek soul, I will be happy indeed.”

Homer’s Where the Heart Is can be bought on all Amazon sites and the paperback is also available through the Book Depository www.bookdepository.com (free postage). For more information about Greece www.bigfatgreekodyssey.com