A Place for Us: Eleni's Family in America

A wonderfully written book about Nicholas Gatzoyiannis , and his four sisters making a life for themselves in the USA, with the father they have never met , Christos. This after the brutal murder of their mother by vicious Communist terrorists. It is a journey of discovery , of America in the 1950's , 60's and 70's and about Nick's growth and reconciliation with his father. It covers his near descent into being a petty teenaged hood , and his rise to being an award winning journalist and author. It also focuses on Nick's sisters and their marriages. Lots of colour and humour in a delightful and gentle real life account.

If you've read "Eleni," Nicholas Gage's previous book on the life and death of his mother, the extraordinary Eleni Gatzoyiannis, you've probably wondered what happened to her children after they came to America. "A Place For Us" tells the story, with its focus on the relationship between a young Nicola and his father, Christos, a man suffering deep guilt for having left his wife to suffer in Greece.The story is wonderful--a bit leisurely, but full of wonder and suspicion as the Gatzoyiannis girls (and boy) encounter America with all its strangeness and potential. There's enough humor to counter the grief and anger the family carried over the loss of Eleni, but it's Gage's account of his mistrust and resentment of his father that is the focus of this story. Long before Gage can seek justice for his mother's killing, he has to forgive his father, who turns out to be a better man than his son expects.If this story is gentler in tone and pace than "Eleni"--albeit just as well-written, and spare in its language--it is because this is a story of healing rather than revenge. This is Christos's story rather than Nicholas's; the son's grief found a release in the search for those responsible for his mother's death, while the father devoted his life to the care of their children. Through that devotion, the Gatzoyiannis children came to thrive in their new country, finding purpose and strength.In the end Christos and Eleni are reunited--their graves are side by side, and the epitaph speaks simply of the lifelong love between the two. A lesson for the family is made a lesson for all of us.

This is a wonderful, moving story of immigrant children who came to join their father in America after their mother was murdered by fellow Greeks during the Greek Civil War. It tells of their struggles to assimilate into American culture while attempting to deal with the betrayal they feel over the loss of their mother and the instant family they have with the long-absentee father. It's anything but slow moving and is a rich portrait of the life of an extraordinary family.

"A Place for Us" is the successor to the best-seller "Eleni". If you haven't read Eleni, read that first; it is by far the better of the two, though both are fascinating true accounts about a Greek family and its journey through war, immigration, and assimilation. Nicholas Gage was the son of a Greek woman who was executed for protecting her children during the Greek civil war. Her story is told in "Eleni". "A Place for Us" is the story of her children who come to live with their father in America. It's a fascinating story of rich culture, hardship, and forgiveness.