The Summer of My Greek Taverna

by Tom Stone

The story of a man in love with a place, a woman, and a dream.
Tom Stone went to Greece one summer to write a novel -- and stayed twenty-two years. On Patmos, he fell in love with Danielle, a beautiful French painter. His novel completed and sold, he decided to stay a little longer.
Seven idyllic years later, they left Patmos for Crete. When a Patmian friend Theológos called and offered him a summer partnership in his beach tavérna, The Beautiful Helen, Stone jumped at the chance -- much to the dismay of his wife, who cautioned him not to forget the old adage about Greeks bearing gifts.
Her warning was well-founded: when back on Patmos, Stone quickly discovered that he was no longer a friend or patron but a competitor. He learned hard lessons about the Greeks' skill at bargaining and business while reluctantly coming to the realization that Theológos's offer of a partnership was indeed a Trojan horse.
Featuring Stone's recipes, including his own Chicken Retsina and the ultimate moussaka, The Summer of My Greek Tavérna is as much a love story as it is the grand, humorous, and sometimes bittersweet adventures of an American pursuing his dreams in a foreign land, a modern-day innocent abroad.

Genres: Greece, Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Summer, Food

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2002

About the author

TOM STONE has pursued a multi-faceted career as a novelist, travel writer, historian, and stage- and screenplay writer. Simultaneously, he has had a very successful career in the professional theater as a director, lighting designer, and stage manager.
While at Yale, where he gained a BA in English Literature and an addiction to the theater, he spent his summers toiling backstage at the prestigious Green Mansions Summer Theater near Lake George, New York. Contacts he made there garnered him a job as an Off-Broadway stage manager, and the following year he became an assistant stage manager for Jerome Robbins’ Ballets: U.S.A.
After a decade of working as a stage manager and assistant director for Robbins and Harold Prince on the original productions of “She Loves Me,” “Funny Girl,” “Fiddler On The Roof,” and “Cabaret” as well as the now-legendary efforts of Robbins’ American Theatre Laboratory (for which he wrote the play “Work in Progress,” he took a sabbatical from Broadway with the intention of spending a single summer in the Greek islands writing a first novel. As the Greek Fates would have it, he stayed twenty-two years. In the process, he married the French painter he met on Patmos, became a father of two, as well as a teacher of English and Theater at Anatolia College in Northern Greece, and a lighting designer and director for the Greek National Theater.
While in Greece, he finished and published his first novel, “Armstrong,” in addition to numerous books and articles about living abroad. These include “The Essential Greek Handbook,” “Greece: An Illustrated History,” “ Patmos: A History and Guide,” and “The Greek Food & Drink Book.”
In 1992, with his children in U.S. universities and his marriage moribund, he returned to Broadway via London and Vienna while working as resident director with Harold Prince’s new, Broadway-bound musical, “The Kiss of the Spider Woman.” But breaking completely back into the theater after so many years proved impossible. So, when one of his short stories was optioned for a TV movie, Tom headed west and soon found work writing film scripts for hire. As of this writing, ten of them are the market but none have as yet been produced.
Meanwhile, he devoted the greater part of his writing time to writing books. His memoir of living on Patmos, “The Summer of My Greek Tavérna,” was published by Simon & Schuster in 2002 and was selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Club in 2003. It has been translated into eleven languages, including Dutch, German, Danish, Hebrew, and Mandarin (Taiwan). After having been under option by Fox Searchlight Pictures in 2012, it is now in development with Grove Entertainment.
In February, 2008, Tom published “Zeus: A Journey Across Greece in the Footsteps of a God.” It became a Main Selection of the History Book Club and the QPBC, and this led to his on-going appearances in three segments of the History Channel’s series on mythology, “The Clash of the Gods.”
(Now no longer in print, “Zeus” has recently been resurrected as an e- and print-on-demand book titled “Chasing Zeus” and is available on Kindle and B&N as well as various other sites. Meanwhile, Tom has fashioned a stand-alone companion volume out of the large amount of material the publishers asked him to remove from the original edition because it far exceeded the contractual limit. This includes some 58,000 words of text (the length of a 200-page book) and 141 images and maps. It is available on Kindle for $1.99, the lowest price Tom could manage because of the large amount of images. Its title is: “Zeus: An Addendum.” )
In 2012, Tom fashioned what he thinks of as “an annotated novel.” Based on the legend of the Cretan Minotaur, its purpose is to both entertain readers and provide them with endnotes, images, and maps explicating the sources of the legend. Tom has recently republished the novel in two separate Kindle e-book editions. The one co

Reviews

[okyrhoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be an honest memoir, and anyone who has been to the Greek isles knows how bare and simple the life is. It is not easy to create a dense and complex narrative with the scarcity of raw materials a writer has to work with. If there was more I would have accused Tom Stone of being florid with his prose, as other better-known travel writers have a tendency to indulge in.
Also, I found his descriptions of the Greek characters, and the motivations of each person, right on the mark. In my mind I could conjure up similar figures I have met on my visits to my ancestral village in rural Greece. And in the city I have a neighbor who is the spitting image of the grande dame "Mrs. Busset" (and yes, my neighbor also is an Egyptiotissa!).
If there is one thing I clench my teeth for when reading books about Greece by non-Greeks, it is the 'obligation' these writers feel they must quote from the classics (Homer, Sophocles, Euripides) and Cavafy & Kazantzakis from the moderns. I expected that Tom Stone, being a man of the arts and having spent so many years in the country, would have familiarized himself with additional sources. ...Papadiamantis, at the very least.
I don't mind the inclusion of the steak au poivre, curry and carbonara recipes, as tavernas in touristy areas tend to have a foreign dish or two on the menu (pizza, spaghetti bolognese, hamburger, bon filet) in addition to the Greek fare.
Youvarlakia Avgolemono is as homestyle Greek as you can get, and I also recommend a meal menu consisting of Keftedakia, Tzatziki, Horta, and Tiganites Patates (fried potatoes, best cooked in olive oil, of course!). You can replace the Keftedakia with deepfried whitebait or tiny sardines, a grilled pork chop, or simply an omelet. The combination of a meat/fish plate plus fried potatoes, Horta and Tzatziki is classic.
Kali orexi!

[Skaistė Girtienė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Akį patraukė viršelis ir aprašymas - Graikija, jos salos, gyvenimas jose, užsieniečio bandymas būti tavernos nuomininku. Knyga buvo įdomi kultūros, istorijos, legendų, gamtos, aplinkos aprašymais. Šiais dalykais mane sudomino, tačiau pasakojimas nebuvo ypatingai įtraukiantis ar nepaleidžiantis, tad teko pasakatinti save atsitraukus sugrįžti ir pabaigti skaityti. Apskritai smagu buvo kito nevietinio žmogaus akimis pažvelgti į šią man pažįstamą šalį ir kultūrą.

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was prepared to be totally charmed by this memoir of an American living and working on a tiny Greek island. I enjoyed the insights into Greek life, but even with the interesting people and good food, the book fell flat for me. I had a hard time making it to the end. I do plan to make some of the recipes though!

[Katinas Čiobrelis | knygos, kelionės ir kiti įdomūs dalykai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idomi knyga, pasakojanti kaip amerikietis sutiko prancuze ir graikijos saloje sukure seima. Isbande versla su vietiniu ir gavo is jo gyvenimisku pamoku. Skaitant atsiveria graikijos vaizdai. Knyga pasiemiau skaityti pries kelione i sia sali, bet esant karantinui teko pasimegauti knyga :)

[Eugene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea of the book, the reality…not so much. Young American Tom Stone, one-time Broadway stage manager and assistant dirctor, restaurant cook, and other odd occupations, takes a summer to spend on the remote Greek isle of Patmos to write a novel. While there he falls in love with Patmos, Greece, and French painter Danielle, and somehow they spend 22 years in Greece.
After nine years, mostly spent as a teacher in Crete, Tom hears from old friend Theológos who runs the tavern named The Beautiful Eleni on Patmos, offering a deal to rent the tavern and run it for a summer, all but guaranteeing huge profit to Tom. The idea of going back to Patmos with his now wife and two kids and re-kindling the love of the Greek isles that first enthralled him proves to be too strong for all the cautionary advice friends and family give him, and so they begin this adventure by handing their hard-earned savings to Theológos for the lease…
It doesn’t at all turn out the way he’d hoped, but they survive somewhat the worse for wear, and having learned some life lessons.
I found it of wry interest that Stone makes reference and pays obeisance to Peter Mayle’s memoir A Year In Provence. This book is unfortunately not a patch on that one. Where Mayle could detail misdealings, thwarted desires, and cultural difficulties while making them all seem charming and humorous and ultimately positive, Stone’s Greek experiences mostly register as jarring, bordering on cruelty, and mendacious…not particularly complementary to the Greek culture. This is sad, as I’m sure the tale could have been much better told and much more satisfying to read. As it is, one is just happy to finish.
There are about 45 pages of recipes for the dishes Stone cooked that summer at the taverna, some of which sound quite interesting.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Found the authors life on Patmos interesting and colorful as well as his try at a Taverna.

[Lbaker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Set on the Patmos island, Greece.
Did not like the writing - author seemed to be saying that like Washington and the cherry tree - Americans do not lie, however, all Greeks do.
The American had a huge ego, of course the only way he could fail is if someone else was cheating. Further, he believed he was being cheated, but did not bother to check the finances of the business he became partner in, that is closer to stupid than naive.
Last, the recipes do not seem very appetizing, not really worth trying.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book, used, as a light read on my 10 day vacation/work trip to Greece. It served its purpose well. I enjoyed Tom Stone's book...but I didn't find the Greece he did, obviously. In fact my visit to the islands (a one day trip on the tourist boat) was a big disappointment. But hey! What did I expect? I did enjoy my visit to Greece and this was just the kind of light read to pack in my luggage.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written memoir of the author's attempt to co-run a taverna on an isolcated Greek island, despite the many warnings of his various Greek friends. While the descriptions of life on the island and various insights into Greek culture were wonderful, for the most part the book is predictable and not terribly engaging. It runs its course to a very much anticipated ending which mercifully came rather quickly.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

As indicated by my star rating, I really didn't like this book.

It's a cautionary tale: an enthusiastic amateur cook and bon vivante takes on the running of a taverna in Patmos for a summer. The thing that annoyed me so much is that the protagonist, despite warnings from many sides, goes blindly along towards failure.

Read this book if you're considering going into the restaurant trade and have very little experience behind the counter.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. I really wanted to like this book, but I found it tried to be too many things (travel memoir, culinary memoir, cookbook, etc.) and so ended up addressing any number of topics without going into the kind of depth that would have made them compelling subjects. Also, a bit too much doom-and-gloom foreshadowing for my taste.

[Noelle M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just an interesting memoir, but a good who-dun-it and why-who-dun-it. He puts his recipes at the end, and holy cow, try the moussaka, it's to die for though I got tennis elbow by the time I squeezed all the eggplant slices.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know that I'll actually get around to finishing this. I kept looking for something particularly interesting about Stone, but didn't find it. And I was hoping that the story would inspire me to visit Greece, but he didn't make it sound very appealing.

[Sibilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grāmatas par Grieķijas salām ir mana vājība jau kopš bērnības (pie vainas varētu būt Darelu ģimenes piedzīvojumi Korfu) pat, ja tās ir tik viduvējas kā šī.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much character development but interesting book about live on a Greek island

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am headed to Greece this month and came across this book on my bookshelf when I was looking for a book to take on another vacation. As we will be visiting Patmos I figured now was the time to read this book! It was okay. From what I've read, it was written before Patmos was equipped to become a tourist attraction so it was interesting to read about the island before it was bespoiled by the likes of us, the cruise ship passengers looking, in vain, for the true Greek experience. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get on board with Tom Stone. He takes on a partnership with a known shady character in order to fulfill a dream to run a Greek taverna for a summer. Never consults a financial advisor or lawyer - just plunks down all of his money on the basis of a handshake despite his wife's misgivings. Then, after ignoring warnings from nearly everyone he knows, paying no attention to the money coming in and going out or the (bogus) receipts his partner willingly supplies, and working himself into a shadow of his former self, he is shocked, SHOCKED to discover he's been had. Come on... I was almost angry that he got out of it with his initial investment in tact. He absolutely deserved to lose that too. Fortunately for his family it was at least a break even fiasco, Three stars for the description of the taverna life and the flavor of the surrounding countryside. I look forward to my visit to Greece later this month! And can I say I WON'T be looking for chili con carne on the menu.

[Viktorija Valeikienė · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Mano graikiška vasara“: verslo pradžiamokslis Graikijoje

Kai galvojame apie Graikiją ir jos salas, dažnai prie akis matome šiltą įspūdingos spalvos jūrą, gamtos grožį, kartais kalnus, besišypsančius graikus ir tiesiog niekada nenuviliantį orą. Ar apie tai ir ši knyga? Prisipažinsiu, kad iš pavadinimo taip ir galvojau. Oh, tikras džiaugsmas smegenims.

Bet... tai autobiografinė istorija apie Patmos salą (visai netoli Turkijos) ir siekį joje vystyti tavernos verslą. Jaunas amerikietis Tomas trumpam atvyksta į salą atostogauti ir parašyti knygą. Tačiau atostogos užsitęsia gerokai ilgiau, nes sutinka būsimą žmoną prancūzę, su kuria susilaukia dviejų vaikų. Galiausiai nusprendžia apsigyventi Graikijoje. O vėliau sulaukia pasiūlymo ir vystyti verslą su patmiečiu graiku Theologos – nuomoti ir gaminti maistą tavernoje.

„Saugokis graikų, atnešančių dovanas“- sakė ne vienas graikas Tomui. Ne viskas taip gražu, kaip atrodo, - jaunojo amerikiečio laukia sekinantis, valandų neskaičiuojantis darbas, graiko partnerio apgavystės ir kultūriniai tautų skirtumai.

Gal ir smagu, bet man vis tiek pritrūko nuotykių ir įtampos. Erzino toks autoriaus patiklumas ir naivumas. Smagu, kad autorius pasidalina savo žiniomis apie Patmos salą, jos žmones, istoriją. Taip pat knygos pabaigoje autorius pateikia savo patiekalų receptus, kuriais džiugino tavernos lankytojus.

Skanaus skaitymo! :)

[Andee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed several aspects of this book, particularly learning a bit about the history, culture, customs, and lands of the Greeks. I enjoyed the basic premise of the book, which is that an idiot basically gets hornswoggled by a crafty old Greek all while working his fingers to the bone for him. This is way past being gullible or naive, no, the author is an idiot, totally ignorant of any basic business acumen like keeping track of money and expenses! I’ve got news for this clown, it’s not just Greeks that’ll rip you off in the restaurant industry, it’s everyone, so you HAVE to know your numbers.

Where the book really falls down in my opinion, is that is skips around too often and to many different visits and places. I lost track of which islands were which, and when he went to each one, and what happened on each trip. It was incredibly convoluted in terms of the timeline and chain of events. Also, there’s too much Greek in the book - most people don’t know, read, or speak Greek, so it’s a lot of extra verbiage for no reason.

Lastly, the recipes do not impress me at all. There’s not a single one I would make, there are so many better versions out there.

[B. P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in places, but this has not aged well. Even though it was first published in 2002, it clearly refers to the Greece of the late 1970s or early 80s, when material circumstances were considerably different. The taverna-owning Theologos was a young man in World War II, so must be extremely old if still alive. Patmos faces new challenges now, including a boom in tourism and, more recently, the arrival of refugees risking their lives to cross from Turkey. Trumpian politics has also blown a hole in the author's "Cherry Tree" argument that Americans should be seen as fundamentally honest and up front - if that was ever true. Stone would have been better off explaining that in Greek, the term "Amerikanaki" is used to describe a naive Westerner. Entertaining this book may be, but that is really the heart of the matter.

[Karīna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patiesībā jāliek 3.5 zvaigznes.
Grāmatai nav augsta literārā vērtība - velk uz 3. Pirktu, lai lasītu to pa ceļam uz Grieķiju, pabeidzu lasīt... tepat Grieķijā. Pērkot rēķinājos, ka tā nebūs izcils literārs šedevrs, tomēr biju patīkami pārsteigta par to, ka grāmata krietni pārspēja manas cerības: tā saturēja daudz vērtīgas, izklaidējošas un izzinošas informācijas par Grieķijas kultūru, vēsturi, tradīcijām. Uzzināju daudz jauna. Perfekta grāmata lasīšanai ceļojuma laikā. Papildus patīkams bonuss - grāmatā ir tiešām vērtīgas ēdienu receptes, tā ka šī daļēji ir pavārgrāmata. Un iemesls, kāpēc grāmata manā grāmatplauktā ir uz palikšanu. Sapratu savu kļūdu tzatziki pagatavošanā, esmu apņēmusies iemācīties gatavot Melitzanosalata (mana mīļākā uzkoda Grieķijā), kā arī Toma jokaino vistu retsinā. Labu apetīti un laipni lūdzu Grieķijā!

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so wanted to love this book and have my imagination fired with thoughts of blue skies and seas with the scent of oregano and ouzo!

Unfortunately, like the writer, I was sadly disappointed with the experience and only found lying, cheating and unpleasantness.

I have read many books of people moving to the Greek Islands and being met with hostility, superstition and aggression, so I wasnt entirely surprised by the tone of the book. With the addition of the writer's apparent inability to accept advice or even be very perceptive about the people he was dealing with (despite having lived in Patmos previously and having dealt with the vagaries of dealing with Greek workers) I found this a very frustrating and irritating story.

[Judy Frenette · Rating 3 out of 5]

there were parts of this book that I liked, I am ok with the author as a writer, but his incredible naivety with how he handled the restaurant debacle was overwhelmingly hard to read, I had to forward to the back of the book to see if there was any light at the end of the tunnel, but, it was only a minor victory as the street wise Greek still had all the money he skimmed off the top and a restaurant full of supplies and alcohol stacked up to the roof, he made an absolute fortune, I also found it disappointing that because the names and places had to be secret, you could not look up the locale or find any photos

[Tim Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Summer of my Greek Taverna takes you on a nice journey. Like many travel books of the 'took a few years off to live with the locals in an idyllic place' genre, this book had some wonderful descriptions of beautiful places, tasty local food and memorable locals which was able to sustain me. It was not a profound book for me, but took my imagination to a warmer climate and a stunning island life. Would rate 2.5 stars but 3.0 stars with the added recipes at the end.

[Kate]

Всю жизнь слышу "Научиcь доверять людям", "Почему ты никому не доверяешь?" и бла-бла.
Может потому, что есть на то причины, может потому, что люди прежде всего думают о себе, каких бы тем это ни касалось. И в этом нет ничего предосудительного, это нормальная реакция (инстинкт самосохранения, называйте, как хотите). Эта книга показывает темную сторону данного инстинкта, а также описывает милые и спокойные греческие острова.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading books about areas I am traveling to, and I thought that Tom Stone's memoir offered interesting insight and descriptions of life in Greece on the Island of Patmos as well as the personalities of some of the Greek people living there.

Bonus was the recipes at the back of the book! I look forward to trying some of them.

[Barb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't really understand the point of this book. Greece isn't really detailed to the point it could be, the "journey" was kind of blah, and the end felt lackluster. I guess I expected better story telling or even more beautiful descriptions of living on a Greek island, but instead it just felt like 200 pages of nothing.

[Leen Aelbrecht · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ik heb gemerkt dat reisboeken voor mij niet zo vlot lezen. Soms vond ik het bij deze boek wat moeilijk volgen, meer naar einde toe vooral. Wist niet goed in welke tijdsperiode het verhaal opdat moment zich afspeelde.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idyllic episode out of time and mind when the author takes a summer off to manage a beach taverna, and life on the island turns difficult. Recipes, politics, small town insider/outsider relationships compounded by a foreigner who really can't figure it out.

[Perri · Rating 2 out of 5]

First 50 pages or so of this book was great, then it dropped off substantially for me. The descriptions in the beginning portion of the book were lovely and day-dreaming about Greece is never a bad thing, but then the book just became a slog to get through for me.

[Libby Hobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read travel journey of Tom Stone going back to Patmos to work in the Greek Taverna on the beach. “Greeks bearing gifts”:is a very true old adage and Tom learned a big lesson, but had also be cautioned about returning by his wife.
Easy read - wouldn’t exactly recommend