Tony Whitefield’s new novel “George’s Café” continues to draw on his close connections to the island of Limnos. His wife, Despina’s family originates from the island and his grandfather Henry Norman Whitefield fought at Gallipoli in 1915 and was sent to the island to recuperate after he was wounded in battle.
The new (Mr Whitefield’s second) novel reflects some of his personal associations with the island. His first book, that he co-wrote with Roger Hawthorn, “A Lemnos Odyssey, From Jason and the Argonauts to the Anzacs of Gallipoli”, was a non-fiction historical work that was published in 2016 and provided a history of the island and Australia’s close association to it.
In his new book, “George’s Café”, the Limnian connection remains strong.
“The main character, Angus, is injured at Gallipoli and is sent to the hospitals on Limnos to be fixed. It is there he meets a Greek village lady, Maroula, and her uncle, George, who runs a cafe in the village of Portianou,” Dr Whitefield told Neos Kosmos.
“I also cover the German occupation of Limnos in 1941-1944 and Greek migration to Australia in the 1950s.
“My characters might be fictional, but most of the storylines in the book are from history.”
Work on the novel began soon after he finished writing the “The Queen of Limnos” in December 2019.
READ MORE: Ancient chapter is added to the Lemnos story in a novel by Aussie academic and writer
“I had a bit of spare time last year (due to COVID) and I had a bit of time to think about it. I began writing in February, last year. The new book was always in the background as an idea and it developed into a story and took a life of its own.
“I used a lot of stories from my own family’s history and from my Greek family. I turned to my mother-in-law for her stories of the German occupation of the island.
“This book has a wider appeal (than The Queen of Limnos) as it covers Australian history as well the Greek connection so it will have a wider audience,” said Dr Whitefield.
Thanks to COVID, there was no official launch for “The Queen of Limnos” but the launch for “George’s Café” will be held on 16 April in Ballarat, where Dr Whitefield’s family originates.
“The main character, Angus, is from Ballarat. People from Ballarat have helped with the research. They took us on tours of World War One battle sites. My wife and I took them on a tour of Limnos,” said Dr Whitefield.
There are four main voices, Angus (who Mr Whitefield has given the ability to speak in Greek), Marula, a Greek lady whom he befriends, Mustafa a Turk who had to leave the island as part of a population exchange in 1912 and the modern voice of the grandson, also named Angus, who finds the hand-written memoirs of his grandfather in the attic of the family home in 2015.
Mr Whitefield’s next project maintains the Limnian connection and picks up from “The Queen of Limnos” by recounting the story of Jason and the Argonauts but without the Olympian gods taking a hand in the action.
“The gods do not interfere in my books,” said Dr Whitefield.
♦ “George’s Café” is currently available online through US Amazon but will soon be available on most online book sites. Printed copies of the book are available for sale within Australia through Dr Whitefield on email at: whitefield.tony@gmail.com. Cost is $25 with postage included.