Sophia's Return: Uncovering My Mother's Past - Paperback

by Sophia Kouidou-Giles (Author)

After her parents' divorce, seven-year-old Sophia is raised by her paternal grandmother and, later, her father's second wife. She visits her mother on weekends until she finishes her high school, after which she moves to the US to complete her post-secondary studies and launch a career in child welfare.

Decades later, Sophia travels back to Greece, determined to find her mother's grave and finally learn about the reasons for her parents' divorce. As she digs, she begins to realize how clashing cultures between her Greek-born mother and her father's early years in Turkey wreaked havoc on the marriage. Determined to unlock the true story, she interviews family members, all of whom are sympathetic but reluctant to disclose information. Finally, she hires an attorney and resorts to document searching--and uncovers a story she never knew existed.

Written with illuminating insights and a mature understanding of what forced her mother's decision to abandon their home, Sophia's compassionate, authentic recounting of her journey will encourage those who search for the truth to persist in seeking answers to life's unanswered questions.

Author Biography

Sophia Kouidou-Giles is an award-winning author whose work spans memoir, historical fiction, myth retellings, poetry, and literary translation. Her writing has appeared in Voices, Persimmon Tree, Assay, The Raven's Perch, Story Wits, Women Writers, Women Books, The Fantasy Hive, and The Blue Nib, among others. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, Transitions and Passages; an award-winning memoir, Sophia's Return: Uncovering My Mother's Past; and two other Greek Tales novels, An Unexpected Ally and Circle of Peace. Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Kouidou-Giles now lives in Seattle, Washington.