Daphne knew an Italian gelateria not far from the tram stop and she and Libby chose two scoops each, then ambled back towards the beach, slowly eating the ice cream. Her favourite flavour had always been pistachio, the green-scented, nutty taste summoning memories of her grandmother’s home-made version. The family had their own pistachio grove on Aegina and Yiayia concocted the irresistible ambrosia every summer, using honey and local sheep’s milk.
The sun was burning hot now – one of those late-October weekends before the first rains change the atmosphere, when people grasp the last chance for a day at the seaside. Several families were already ensconced with umbrellas and picnics, and little groups of elderly, white-hatted swimmers were treading water, chatting cheerfully. The slap and crack of backgammon pieces resonated across the beach from the shack housing the Winter Swimmers’ Club, where tawny-skinned players sat outside at tables.
Daphne laid out two towels beneath a tree and they made themselves comfortable, the tiny, smooth pebbles crunching beneath their bodies.
‘I’m going straight in.’ Ready with her bikini under her clothes, Libby plunged into the sea and swam strongly away from the shore.
Daphne looked out to the horizon and the blurry outline of Aegina’s pointed Mount Ellanion. It was only a year since Ralph’s death. And yet she was calm – happy, even. Seeing that small, beloved island across the Saronic Gulf and thinking of her visits, she realised that only a few of the recollections were associated with Ralph.
Some of her earliest memories of Aegina were family holidays with Ellie, Ed and Theo. Yiayia always insisted on long siestas after lunch, before a swim was allowed, and, as a child, she loved the shady peace of hot afternoons indoors. She remembered being so young that when they all went out to dinner at a taverna, she fell asleep, leaning over from her chair to rest on her mother’s lap, feeling Ellie stroke her hair, her perfume drifting in and out of the easy slumber. Later, when it felt like the middle of the night and she was too tired to walk, Ed picked her up and carried her home. His pace was uneven from his limp, but she enjoyed the slow rhythm in his arms, the mumbling of adult voices. He laid her on the brass bed opposite Theo’s, and removed her sandals, leaving her to sleep undisturbed in her clothes. The cotton pillowcase was slightly stiff against her cheek. She could hear chirruping cicadas outside. When Ed closed the shutters, a brief breeze of jasmine wafted across the room.
The sun had turned the water a brilliant turquoise and, as a white gull barked its complaining cry, Daphne pulled off her clothes and followed her daughter into the sea.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Heartfelt thanks to Gillian Stern, first reader and editor, for her boundless support.
I was extremely lucky to have Alexandra Pringle as my wise and wonderful publisher and editor. Thank you. And to Sarah-Jane Forder, copy-editor extraordinaire, Angelique Tran Van Sang, Allegra Le Fanu, Philippa Cotton, Janet Aspey and all at Bloomsbury.
Jonathan Burnham and Mary Gaule at HarperCollins US have been amazing. Many thanks.
Alan Hollinghurst was wildly generous with advice and editing. Thanks to him and also to Vesna Goldsworthy for very helpful comments on an early draft.
A number of people assisted with research and support while I was writing. They include Sarah Horrocks, Cressida Connolly, Leo Zinovieff, Katy Barrow-Grint, Lea Tan, Melanie Jones, Stefan Bertram-Lee, Lara Muller, Amalia Zepou, Effie Basdra, Katerina Bakoyianni and Maria Ribeiro. Thank you all.
As ever, I am hugely grateful to my agent Caroline Dawnay, and to Sophie Scard and all at United Agents.
Love and thanks to Vassilis. Our daughters, Anna and Lara, took on this book with zeal and have been brilliant critics and consultants. Putney is dedicated to them.
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
Sofka Zinovieff was born in London. She studied social anthropology at Cambridge, then lived in Greece and Moscow. She is the acclaimed author of three works of non-fiction, Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens, Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life and The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me, a New York Times Editors’ Choice 2015, and one previous novel, The House on Paradise Street. Her writing has appeared in publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the Spectator and the Independent. She divides her time between Athens and England.
ALSO BY SOFKA ZINOVIEFF
Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens
Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life
The House on Paradise Street
The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me
Copyright
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF CANADA
Copyright © 2018 Sofka Zinovieff
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published in 2018 by Alfred A. Knopf Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto, and simultaneously in the United States by HarperCollins Publishers, New York, and in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Circus, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London. Distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto.
Knopf Canada and colophon are registered trademarks.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Zinovieff, Sofka, author
Putney / Sofka Zinovieff.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 9780735275300
Ebook ISBN 9780735275317
Cover design by Milardello
Jacket photograph © Jamie Chung/Trunk Archive
I. Title. PR6126.I56P88 2018 823’.92 C2018-903498-X
C2018-903499-8
