Το κάστρο της Θυραμιάς
Ερη Ριτσου, 2008
A girl nicknamed Antelope is sent into service in a grand house, and learns what it costs to want a better life. A warm, sharp-eyed novel about class, shame and appetite. A sharp, witty voice keeps curiosity alive as a girl watches a grand house and weighs ambition against shame.
Feels like curiosity, wonder and hope. About ambition, identity and family.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy close portraits of class and appetite in a small-town Greek setting, with a heroine whose wanting is treated seriously. The period detail and Greek social codes can make some passages feel distant if you are not familiar with that world.
Why read it
It gives you a clear-eyed look at how wanting a better life can shape a person, with wit and warmth rather than easy judgments.
A page from the book
A nickname that hurts can turn into a word worth being.
Τα λεπτά πόδια ακρίδας που διέθετε η Λόπη έβαλαν φτερά. Ο φόβος πως θα την κυνηγούσαν και θα της χαλούσαν το κουτί την έκανε να τρέχει σαν δαιμονισμένη. Έτσι έτρεχε μια μέρα όταν την είδε ένας κύριος και είπε πως τρέχει σαν αντιλόπη. Τα παιδιά που τον άκουσαν της κόλλησαν το παρατσούκλι και έπαψαν πια να τη φωνάζουν Πηνελόπη. Την κορόιδευαν «Λόπη-αντιλόπη», κι εκείνη δεν είχε ιδέα τι είναι αυτό, μέχρι που κάποια μέρα έκανε κουράγιο και πήγε και ρώτησε τον δάσκαλο. Άνοιξε εκείνος ένα βιβλίο και της έδειξε τι είναι η αντιλόπη. «Μμμμ», σκέφτηκε η Λόπη, «δεν είναι κι άσχημη. Σίγουρα πιο όμορφη από κατσίκα». «Χαρακτηριστικόν του ζώου αυτού είναι η ταχύτης του, διά της οποίας αποφεύγει τους εχθρούς του», είπε ο δάσκαλος, και η Λόπη κατάλαβε πως το να τρέχεις είναι ένας τρόπος να αποφεύγεις τους εχθρούς σου. Ερη Ριτσου.Έρη Ρίτσου is the daughter of poet Γιάννης Ρίτσος; she has written novels, stories and children's books, often set in small Greek towns in the early twentieth century.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Το κάστρο της Θυραμιάς for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy close portraits of class and appetite in a small-town Greek setting, with a heroine whose wanting is treated seriously. The period detail and Greek social codes can make some passages feel distant if you are not familiar with that world.
- What is Το κάστρο της Θυραμιάς like?
- A sharp, witty voice keeps curiosity alive as a girl watches a grand house and weighs ambition against shame. Feels like curiosity, wonder and hope. About ambition, identity and family.
- What should I read after Το κάστρο της Θυραμιάς?
- If you liked Το κάστρο της Θυραμιάς, try The Lost Bookshop (Evie Woods), Little Fires Everywhere (Celeste Ng) and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll).
A taste of the feed
The books on your shelf are proof that something survives.
I couldn’t explain it, not even to myself, but books gave me an unflinching sense of stability and groundedness. That because words survived, somehow I would too.
The Lost Bookshop · Evie Woods
She scolds herself so well it brings her to tears.
“Come, there’s no use in crying like that!” said Alice to herself, rather sharply; “I advise you to leave off this minute!” She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. “But it’s no use now,” thought poor Alice, “to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!”
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · Lewis Carroll
The wish is not to be beautiful, only to be unnoticed.
If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.
Wonder · R.J. Palacio
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