Taking place in the island of Andros, also known as Little England for its special ties to London’s international shipping center, Karystiani’s long-seller is centered around the story of Saltaleros family. Shy Orsa is secretly in love with Spyros, but her mother and “captain” of the family, Lina, urges her to marry a wealthy man instead. Lina has herself been married to a captain and passed her life in solitude, she therefore finds that love equals trouble and aims at wealth for her daughters. After hovering the seas, Spyros returns to the island a wealthy man and ship-owner and will soon marry carefree Mosha, Orsa’s sister. Now, a thin wooden ceiling becomes Orsa’s instrument of suffering as her life diminishes to her overhearing murmurs, steps and voices coming from upstairs…

A story about strong women struggling with their solitude and feelings while their partners labor away from home.

Kastaniotis, 1997, 368 p.