Sirens' Songs (Spanish Edition)

For Charmian Clift, Greece was the Promised Land. In 1954, she and her husband, the renowned journalist George Johnston, abandoned the grey post-war London and set off towards the Aegean Sea with two typewriters and two young children. They had planned to stay there for a year, but ended up staying for a decade. "Siren Song" is the chronicle of their turbulent acclimatization to Kalymnos, a small island populated by taciturn sponge fishermen and strong, superstitious women. In its pages, filled with unforgettable characters – led by their faithful local aide, Manolis, and their unyielding domestic assistant, Sevasti – and landscapes of almost miraculous beauty, the perplexity towards a primitive and patriarchal society coexists with the discovery of a pure, simple, and free way of life, prior to the invasion of mass tourism.

These memoirs, written from the perspective of a thirty-one-year-old woman who records with intelligence, humor, and warmth the intimate details of her daily life and the customs of a world on the verge of extinction, received little attention upon their publication in 1956. Over time, "Siren Song" has become a classic of travel literature and the autobiographical genre, and allows us to discover one of the most talented and vibrant writers of the last century.

Charmian Clift and her husband, the renowned journalist George Johnston, abandoned the grey post-war London in 1954 and set off towards the Aegean Sea with two typewriters and two young children, intending to stay in Greece for a year but ended up staying for a decade. "Siren Song" is the chronicle of their turbulent acclimatization to Kalymnos, a small island populated by taciturn sponge fishermen and strong, superstitious women. In its pages, filled with unforgettable characters – led by their faithful local aide, Manolis, and their unyielding domestic assistant, Sevasti – and landscapes of almost miraculous beauty, the perplexity towards a primitive and patriarchal society coexists with the discovery of a pure, simple, and free way of life, prior to the invasion of mass tourism. These memoirs, written from the perspective of a thirty-one-year-old woman who records with intelligence, humor, and warmth the intimate details of her daily life and the customs of a world on the verge of extinction, received little attention upon their publication in 1956. However, over time, "Siren Song" has become a classic of travel literature and the autobiographical genre, and allows us to discover one of the most talented and vibrant writers of the last century.

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