Greece means radiant sunshine, blue sea and sky, white houses and cozy tavernas with tzatziki, tomato salad and souvlaki. Besides sea and pool, with a bit of luck, you may also see some authentic villages where you can inhale the scent of a life before masses of tourists changed the islands and when charming Greek life was still magical. At least, that is what lots of people think.

Even before the Second World War writers were writing books praising this land of myths and Gods without mentioning any problems, like Henri Miller’s The Colossus of Maroussi (1941) or Lawrence Durrell’s Prospero’s cell (1943). In 1935 Lawrence Durrell moved with wife and children to Corfu. A year later the Greek Communist Party, KKE (founded 1918) was banned and peace was gone: party members risked being sent to prison or exiled to small, poor islands.

During the Second World War the communist party was instrumental in getting rid of the Germans. But once the arms were down, the British (who were so scared of Stalin and the Russian communists) helped the Greek army in a renewed hunt for communists, this time on a much more dramatic scale. In this sad civil war, (communist) resistance fighters struggled, but after three years a peace deal was signed in 1949. But beyond that time still communists had to watch out not to be caught, brought to prison, tortured, executed or exiled. It was not until 1974, with the disappearance of the Colonels that Greece could freely breathe again, that the KKE was legalized.

Lesvos also was an island of exiles and was mainly communist. The red capital was Mandamados, also called Small Moscow. Even now the KKE is the biggest party in this small town (for more about communism on Lesvos: see The Red Island).

I discovered that Greece was not always a sun-drenched paradise when reading A man by Oriana Fallaci. This Italian journalist fell in love with the Greek resistance fighter Alexandros Panagoulis (1939 – 1976) and wrote this heartbreaking biographic book that was published in 1979. Essentially about their romance, but especially about the tortures he had to endure.

The British tv-series Who pays the Ferryman from 1977 also speaks about the Civil War, which was not a simple one; families were torn apart and some 160,000 people were killed. The Second World War and the following Civil war are recurring subjects in Greek literature, like in Arrested Song (The Captive sun) by Irena Karafilly, which is set in Molyvos (Lesvos).

But no book is more informative about those restless times than Niki, published in 2014 by the Greek writer Christos Chomenidis, whose story is based on the life of his mother. It is a compelling story about a girl whose father was a prominent member of the KKE and who, as was her mother, was mostly absent because of fighting, being in exile or in prison.

It is an impressive story and as it is told by a child, it is not too heavy. It tells in a playful way about

the years when Greece was struggling with itself. It tells about the times when the workers got organized, encouraged by Stalin and his Soviet ideals. In those times it was not yet known what a horrible dictator Stalin was, and so even until his death Stalin was a hero for many a European communist.

Beyond the politics it is an interesting portrait about the then fast developing Athens, her old and poor neighbourhoods starting to get cleaned up. It is full of interesting small facts like why there are so many white houses in Greece. Sometimes the story takes you to a small island where exiles tried to make a living under the burning sun.

Now that the clouds of dust have gone and more than one author writes only about problems like when running a Greek Taverna (The summer of my Greek taverna by Tom Stone) many a Greek would love to be exiled to a Greek island. For lots of Greeks going to the islands has become too expensive. Maybe it is time for a revival of the KKE (now mainly supported by farmers). When a life without worries, just like in ancient times seems to be only for the rich, it might be time that the parents of Niki take action again.

Niki is a history book disguised as a novel. An engaging book to enjoy while stretched out under an olive or other tree, at the shore of a murmuring sea – or just exiled to a living room, dreaming of the Greek sun that didn’t shine for everybody.