The Water and the Wine

by Tamar Hodes

It is the 1960s and a group of young writers and artists gather on the Greek island of Hydra. Leonard Cohen is at the start of his career and in love with Marianne, who is also muse to her ex-husband, Axel. Australian authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift write, drink and fight. It is a hedonistic time of love, sex and new ideas. As the island hums with excitement, Jack and Frieda Silver join the community, hoping to mend their broken marriage. However, Greece is overtaken by a military junta and the artistic idyll is threatened.

Genres: Historical Fiction

238 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Carole]

I had high hopes for this book but gave up after a few chapters as the author’s over use of colons and semicolons was too distracting.

[Tanya]

This was happily, an unexpected read for me. While I’m not quite savvy in art and music history, I feel like I glimpsed a snippet of history of some very famous figures. I was drawn into the story and found myself researching the biographies of Leonard Cohen and his muse, Marianne Ihlen, as well as George Johnston and Charmian Clift. I even hoped some of the fictional characters were real. Perhaps they are based on real people?

While the shifting of POV (Point of View)—sometimes multiple times within a chapter or even within a page—caught me off guard, I quickly normalized this type of narration and enjoyed the story and the prose. The Water and the Wine is most definitely a treat for the brain.

Centered around several couples living on the Greek island of Hydra, The Water and the Wine offers a snapshot of life for these erudite authors, painters, and musicians. As is the stereotype in the sixties, the couples all engage in free love. Sometimes with and sometimes without the knowledge of their partner. Although the love affairs are not the only highlights of the story, they are influential ones. Through the relationships, we’re able to understand the thought processes of these artists and how it jives with the social fabric of the 1960’s.

This may sound bawdy and illicit, but that’s far from the truth. In essence, Hodes is able to create a cinematic story with her words. One where I imagine myself a fly on the wall or a cog in each character’s brain. The words illustrate each page and bring the scenes to life.

Full review can be found at:
https://lovebooksgroup.com/2018/10/12...

[Harriet Body]

Mesmerizing!

Beautifully written capturing an era of simplicity and free love. A moving love story between Leonard Cohan and Marianne in the idyllic setting of Hydros, a Greek island in the Mediterranean.

[Gillian]

A soulful tale

A gentle book with a nostalgic sense of times gone by. When life was less complicated and love was more pure. This book sang to my soul. I loved it and after the last word, I was left feeling nostalgic

[Marsha Thalin]

I understand that a good deal of this story is based on fact because I googled it. Having been in Greece in the early '70's as a young adult I recognized the atmosphere, although the junta was still ruling which made parts of the trip a bit harrowing.

[lil]

Wow okay this book is absolutely beautiful, it captures the very essence of a Greek island in the 60s with these expat artists, one being The Leonard Cohen. Tears were definitely shed at the end, for everyone, they all gave up on the idyllic island.

[Malina]

Very vivid

This book opened up A beautiful, magical world that i submerged myself into. It will stay with me forever. Artists are so powerful!

[Anna]

I have never been obsessed with Leonard Cohen. I obviously knew who he was, in fact, he was one of the first Western artists I was aware of, thanks to my aunt, who introduced me to his songs when I was a child. All I could enjoy then was the music and his gravelly voice, as I spoke no English and didn’t understand the lyrics. Now, it’s lyrics that matter the most to me: is there a better, more succinct description of social injustice and inequality than Everybody Knows? (No, there is not). I have developed a fondness for Cohen, but I was never a true fan, never discovered his early novels (which are apparently excellent), or went around with his poems in my pockets, as many teenagers of my generation did. I also knew little about his life - mainly that he was Jewish-Canadian, and a Bhuddist monk. It was therefore an unexpected pleasure to read this book, which is a fictionalised account of one of the greatest love stories of the previous century, that of Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen, who lived together on the Greek island of Hydra in the 60s. The author, Tamar Hodes, is in an unique position to recreate that period on Hydra, and the real people who lived there, because she was one of them - there is a delightful photo of little Tamar on the island in the back of the book. Although it focuses on Leonard and Marianne, the other characters who were part of this bohemian community are properly fleshed out, and are not there just to provide a backdrop to the main couple’s story. It’s clearly well researched, but unlike some historical fiction books, it wears this research lightly.
Almost everyone in Marianne and Cohen’s circle is a creative type, either a writer or a painter, who drink a lot of retsina, so what could possibly go wrong? Obviously, a lot does, and you will be turning pages impatient to find out what happens next, all the time knowing that those people really existed. It will probably send you on an internet journey, and you will spend a long time looking at black and white photos of the young lovers. That’s the particular joy of The Water and The Wine: you know that this passionate love story really happened, and was immortalised in some of the most beautiful songs ever written. Speaking of passion: it’s extremely hard to write well about sex: many an esteemed writer failed (my tip: Google ”Franzen”and „rabbit”) and was nominated for Bad Sex Award. But Tamar succeeds, and I will be recommending The Water... to the many fans of not only Leonard Cohen, but also of romantic novels.
Disclaimer: I was sent this book by the publisher, Hookline Books.

[Grady]

‘On an island, eventually, you are bound to meet yourself’

Israeli born British author Tamar Hodes blends reality with fiction in this quintessential 1960s flavored novel of art and relationship changes. Tamar was born in Israel, lived in Greece and South Africa, and settled in the UK where she read English and Education at Homerton College, Cambridge. She has been teaching English in schools, universities and prisons while writing for Radio 4 and others in anthologies including Salt's The Best British Short Stories 2015, The Pigeonhole, Your One Phone Call, the Ofi Press, MIR online and Fictive Dream. The ‘biographical input: her parents took her to the Greek Island of Hydra where her neighbors were indeed Leonard Cohen, his girlfriend Marianne, and other writers and artists on Hydra.

Tamar paints her story with a broad saturated brush that defines both the atmosphere and the realities of Hydra, as her opening paragraphs attest – ‘Like its artistic inhabitants, Hydra was creative. It painted the earth with purple orchids, wrote itself into the history books and even made its own music: the hum of chatter in the air; the clink of coffee cups at the harbour café, and the light bells on the donkeys as they ambled along the cobbles. Cocks crowed their rough chorus and the single bell chapel at the Monastery of the Virgin’s Assumption added its tinny percussion on the hour. Leaving the boat, the Silver family felt as caught in the island’s magic as the shiny fish wriggling in the yellow nets. Frieda held Esther’s hand but Gideon walked on ahead. Jack, tall and bearded, thanked the boatman, Mikalis, and his good-looking, shirtless son, Spyros, who had tied the rope to keep the boat steady. The family took their luggage and followed signs to Douskos’ Taverna, where wicker tables and chairs were arranged beneath a dark pine. A thin wisteria threaded itself through the tree, releasing its subtle scent into the spring air. Jack shook hands with the owner of the bar, greeting him with Kaliméra, and handed over a piece of paper. The publishers had given him an advance for his book and arranged the family’s accommodation. Douskos was swarthy and dark, stockily built, his white shirt and trousers immaculate. His wife, Polixenes, was sweeping away dead leaves, broken glass and candle wax from the previous night’s revels. Douskos gestured for the family to sit and ordered drinks for them, while he went outside. Then the family saw her for the first time: The Gardenia Dwarf. A tiny old lady, her body and head cloaked in black, a white bloom just discernible, tucked behind her ear. Like her daughter, she was sweeping the stone floor, but the large broom looked unwieldy. She mumbled something which the Silver family did not understand. They finished their drinks and went outside where three donkeys were waiting, flat wooden saddles on their backs for carrying loads, the ‘mule boys’ sullenly at their sides. The cobbles beneath them bubbled in the sun. Douskos looked expectantly at Jack for some coins; once received, he vanished.’

The terse synopsis seduces us into the full book – ‘It is the 1960s and a group of young writers and artists gather on the Greek island of Hydra. Leonard Cohen is at the start of his career and in love with Marianne, who is also muse to her ex-husband, Axel. Australian authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift write, drink and fight. It is a hedonistic time of love, sex and new ideas. As the island hums with excitement, Jack and Frieda Silver join the community, hoping to mend their broken marriage. However, Greece is overtaken by a military junta and the artistic idyll is threatened.’

Well turned storylines excellent character development, and a generous portion of the world as lived in the 60 make this a very fine treasure of a book. Recommended.

[ClaireMS]

There will be few keen readers who have not heard of Leonard Cohen and his infamous muses, but I confess that I knew very little of the artistic community on Hydra in 1960s beyond this. I have always been fascinated by the likes of Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury set, so the premise and promise of this novel immediately had appeal for me. Whilst reading the novel, I have also done some background reading of the many articles available describing the actual artistic community and the island of Hydra through the 1950s, 60s and into the Greek Military Junta (the Regime of the Colonels) of 1967-74.

It is clear that the author draws on her own memories and experiences as a child living on this idyllic island and she has also researched the period and characters in great detail. However the reader must remember that this is a fictional work depicting the lives of real people and Ms Hodes does not pretend that the thoughts and actions of the characters are those of the real people. This is a difficult balance to strike in such cases to be both engaging and interesting, without rewriting history.

I loved this novel and probably read it too quickly in order to write this review! The beauty of the island, the scenery and the way of life are captured in this well crafted piece. To be able to feel the warmth of the sun on your skin and to taste the lemons used in the food and drink, for me indicates that the writing is descriptive and realistic. The pace is slow and charming, encapsulating the life being lead by both the Greek locals and the expat community of artists. Ordinary elements of life are catapulted into something extraordinary.

Human relationships are central to this plot – those of lovers, spouses, the artist and muse, families, friends. The female characters are strong throughout from the “real” Charmiane and Marianne to the “fictional” Frieda to the Greek women such as Evgeniya, Maria and Kyria Sophia. These wonderful Greek ladies are recognised and praised for their devotion and hard work whilst in the employ of the expats – as maids, nannies and eventually becoming extended loved and trusted family. They might have shaken their heads and not understood the way of life that these brightly coloured artists pursued, but they cared for them with wonderful home cooking, maintaining their homes and loving their children.

The complex myriad of human emotions are explored, particularly intense in the lover/muse/triangle relationship of Leonard Cohen, Marianne and her ex husband Axel. Both men are writers are in this tale they share many traits – I am not sure whether they are typical of a writer or not, but have witnessed something of their emotion and devotion to their art in my own teenage daughter when she is drawing and painting. Forgetting to eat, to being unable to concentrate on normal life and to pouring everything into the creative process. I found the dedication to their work both fascinating and bewildering in equal measures – yet I can understand the passion for work that one loves, as I was like this about head and neck cancer nursing and palliative care!

I have read an article by one lady who knew these real people in the 1970s and I do understand that some who were there might find it presumptuous to imagine the feelings and thoughts of real people, some still living. But Ms Tamar is clear from the outset that this is a work of fiction, and in my opinion it deserves to be read slowly to immerse oneself in what is clearly a rather lovely work of literature.

Five stars! Full review here: https://painpalsblog.com/2018/10/08/b...

[Linda]

In this fictionalised account of the lives of a group of young artists, musicians and actors who lived on the Greek island of Hydra during the 1960s, Tamar Hodes very skilfully uses a fictional couple, Jack and Frieda Silver, to tell the story of some of these real-life characters, who include a young Leonard Cohen, Marianne, the woman who becomes his muse, and authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift. Jack and Frieda, accompanied by their two young children, join this lively, creative community, hoping to mend their broken marriage – but it soon becomes clear that dysfunction and complexity in relationships is not unique to them!
From start to finish I loved this moving and beautifully written novel and immediately felt drawn into the lives of all the characters, both real and fictional. As I read my head was full of Cohen’s music and I enjoyed all the literary and artistic references which are included in the story. The intimate details of the complex and often dysfunctional relationships, of the hedonism and of “observing” the excitement of the creative process certainly made for fascinating reading. However, the main pleasure I derived from reading this book came from the author’s evocative descriptions of the location, one of my favourite Greek islands. Her often poetic descriptions conjured up such vivid images of this beautiful place: the daily lives of the “native” Greeks, their legendary hospitality, the food, the sun, the sea – at times I felt as though I was back there, smelling and savouring all (well, most!) of what was being described.
This story powerfully captures the egotism of “creators”, as well as how destructive the creative process can be to relationships and family life. Whilst this is not a novel idea, this account is certainly a thought-provoking exploration into the process and raises the question about whether it is an almost inevitable consequence of it! Another theme which emerged was an insight into the fact that the women artists, in whatever field, were usually less able to devote themselves to their creativity as fully as the men were …. has very much changed in the intervening half century?!
I think that Tamar Hodes has written a gloriously beautiful, haunting and thought-provoking book which captures so vividly the massive social and artistic changes which took place in the 1960s. As I was reading I was reminded of the wonderful travel-writing of Patrick Leigh Fermor because, as he did, she has managed to evocatively capture a significant period in history whilst also conveying her obvious love for this particular Greek island. I think it is a book which will delight anyone who loves Greece and is nostalgic for the 1960s!

[Peter McQuitty]

If you’re interested in Hydra and the artists who gathered there in the early 60s this is readable in a bad kind of way. Writing a novel about real people whose histories are already well known to the target audience is difficult and Hodes’s attempt is not very successful. Her fictionalising actually means wilfully disregarding known facts about her subjects. Her treatment of Leonard Cohen - the star of this show - is a good example. Hodes misrepresents the sequence in which Leonard’s songs appeared. She moves his house to Kala Pigadia and gives it a view of the port and the ocean. The port and the ocean are not visible from Leonard’s house, which is in upper Kamini and looks onto the interior of the island. She gives him a deep gravelly voice, which he didn’t have in the early 60s. She completely reinvents the visit by Leonard’s mother to produce a positive outcome. All this fictionalising, or misrepresentation, is for no apparent reason. Or maybe she didn’t actually know much about her subject matter. Or had a bad editor. Or was just cashing in on the deaths of Leonard and Marianne. Or all of these.

[David]

I have read some of Charmian Clift's books and have been a longtime fan of Leonard Cohen. I have been to Greek islands but not Hydra. This book was so disappointing. I nearly gave up halfway as the characters were so unappetizing - supposedly based on real characters, well, in name anyway. Will I ever be able to listen to Cohen without thinking he's a selfish pretentious twerp, dumping his girlfriend with some cod philosophical musings? Though not Cohen's fault obviously. But this seemed a ghastly crew of self obsessed bohos. Of course in real life Charmian Clift was a brilliant and celebrated author, but in this scenario she is merely a promiscuous (Mills and Boon) appendage to her husband. Well worth reading her account of living on Hydra - 'Peel Me a Lotus' with a very different outlook on village life, and featuring many of the same people.
I know 'the Water and the Wine' is a novel and not a memoir, but I had such high expectations!

[Cynthia]

Valiant but unconvincing fan fiction by an unquestionable Cohen enthusiast, this novel attempts to portray the day-to-day life of Leonard Cohen and the ex-pat bohemian artist community on the Greek isle of Hydra in the 60’s. The plot is very thin and the dialogue is particularly cringe-worthy, however, I give credit to the author for the effort. I faithfully read anything about Leonard Cohen that comes to my attention, although this is the first fiction I have come across. Strictly for die-hard Cohen fans.

[Pedro Serrano]

A poor history with excessive interpretation on what could have happened in Hydra and with Mr Cohen and friends. You can't see the sea from Leonard's Cohen Hydra house, and the tone is too much sentimental and pink.

[John]

Oh what a lot of mush! As a dedicated fan of Leonard Cohen, I can't believe his story has been turned to this sentimental rubbish. I say I'm finished, but could't get past the first chapter.

[Kirsten Mickelwait]

I don’t like leaving bad reviews, but this novel was a disappointment. I’ve been going down a rabbit hole recently, reading and viewing everything I can find about the Greek island of Hydra during the ‘60s, when ex-pat Bohemians like Leonard Cohen lived there.

Tamar Hodes has a unique perspective on this time and place; her family lived on Hydra within this community for a year. Although she was only three at the time, her parents kept detailed journals, which she used to tell her story.

Unfortunately, her narrative voice is more straight reportage than fictional, with the author dryly telling us what happened rather than showing us or immersing us in a scene. She uses a “close third-person” omniscient point of view (POV), beginning the story with the arrival of the Silver family on Hydra (based on her own family, I assume?). But she frequently shifts POV to other characters and, overall, the chief perspective seems to be that of Marianne Ihlen, Cohen’s lover and muse.

Her descriptions of setting are often well done. But there are countless sex scenes between characters that, while nicely rendered, don’t advance the plot in any way and quickly start to feel gratuitous. The dialogue throughout the book is stiff and expository, telling us how characters feel rather than making us feel it.

Also, to add insult to injury, I listened to the book on audio and the chosen narrator did the story no favors. Since most of the novel is in Marianne’s or Charmian Clift’s head, why did they select a male narrator, I wonder? He routinely mispronounces names: Anyone who has watched a documentary about the period knows that the Norwegian Ihlen pronounced her name “Mah-riannah,” not “Mary Ann.” And poor Charmian gets her name butchered at every mention: In reality her name was pronounced “CHAR-mee-un.” He pronounces it variously “Shar-mee-ANNE,” “Shar-MANE,” “SHAR-min,” even “Shar-mee-AYNE.” Where was the editor/producer during the taping? He also uses a broad Australian accent to portray George Johnston, but Clift, Johnston’s wife, was also Australian and he reads her in an American accent.

This is such a fascinating period and group of characters, it’s a shame that the experience felt so removed and wooden. A much more enjoyable read about these folks, IMHO, is A Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson.

[Beryl Eichenberger]

For a magical trip back into the 1960s and the hedonistic lifestyle enjoyed by many artists and writers, then this biographical novel will delight. When the Silver family, parents Jack and Frieda with children Esther and Gideon, move to the Greek island of Hydra it is with the intention of repairing their marriage and serious writing. What they find is a sensuous and hypnotic group headed by the Australian writers George Johnston and Charmian Clift,who warmly welcome them. Into this mix comes the young unknown Leonard Cohen, who meets the beautiful Marianne (remember the song 'So long Marianne') wife to very volatile and philandering Axel Jensen. It is love at first sight and a passionate affair engulfs them. Affairs, drinking, debating and massive creativity are part of this groups' raison d'etre and Hodes writes with great tenderness of the life and stories that unfold as a military junta takes over Greece and the island life is destined to change. I so enjoyed this book and was taken back to the swinging 60s and the gravelly voice of Cohen. Hodes gives the island life and you are walking the paths, smelling the flowers, sensing the seasons and eating the food as you read. She paints a picture of a life long gone when celebrities such as Onassis and Jackie Kennedy, were just as much part of the life to entertain and be part of the artist's colony that flourished there.

[Smint100]

When you’re fictionalising real people, there are two key rules to follow:

i) hang the story on the skeleton of known facts, otherwise you might just as well invent fictional characters, and
ii) add flesh to those bones to make them more interesting than just the known facts.

I’m afraid this book did not meet either of those requirements for me. There were a number of factual errors that jarred (Axel Jensen’s novel Line was published in 1959 before Axel Joachim was born in 1960, Leonard Cohen's house famously did not overlook the sea etc), but it was the characterisation that I struggled with. They were all just so dull! To be honest, it read like very bad fanfiction. Charmian Clift and George Johnston had what felt like exactly the same argument every ten pages with ChuckandGordon as the quiet, nice couple. But Leonard and Marianne fared the worst with chunks of clunky dialogue inserted to tell, not show, without the merest hint of passion or romance. I really, really wanted to like this book, but I’m afraid it added nothing to the canon of works around their meeting and life together. Read Polly Samson’s A Theatre For Dreamers instead which, while not perfect, was at least well written fiction, or Peel Me a Lotus by Charmian Clift which is sublime in summarising the reality of life on Hydra.

[Joanne]

The book is about lots of creative people living in an artists' community on island of Hydra. And by artists I mean painters, writers, musicians etc, people from all areas of the arts. There are lots of characters to get your head around, some based on real people. It did take me a while to feel I knew who was who, especially since who was with who seemed to change one regular basis!

The author has created an evocative picture of the beautiful surroundings, the boats on the sea, the flowers, the wildlife. It seemed a realistic depiction of the Bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle. Freedom for some of the community meant not being bound by rules or responsibilities. But can this kind of lifestyle really work for everyone? With so many egos to appease it seemed not so easy to live and let live.

The Water and The Wine gives an interesting glimpse into what life was like on Hydra at this significant period of time and with this eclectic mix of creative people.

[Renee]

I absolutely loved this book. It’s about love, sex and life amongst a community of creatives on Hydra. I am a great fan of Leonard Cohen and saw him live in Israel in 1972, so was particularly keen to read this book. I loved reading about his relationship with Marianne, but also about all the relationships in the group. The author, as a 3-year-old, actually went to live for a year on Hydra with her parents and although this is a work of fiction, it is based on historical fact. It is beautifully written – I felt like I was there on Hydra - as if I was living there with all of them. I highly recommend this as a light, most enjoyable read.

[Rina Tillinger]

The Wine and the Water by talented author Tamar Hodes is an engaging novel serving up a tasty slice of history. The setting, a picturesque Greek island, and time period, the swinging 60s, are the crockery from which we are nourished. From Leonard Cohen, the musician from Montreal, to a little girl from Israel, every character is an ingredient that nicely bakes the book into a delicious casserole. Music, art and literature are the herbs and spices in this story of an international group of gifted misfits and runaways. The story is even sprinkled with a spicy hot sauce in the numerous sex scenes, always different and erotic. A compelling book best read with a flavourful moussaka!

[Sirilee]

Nice description of Greek atmosphere but, in principle, I don’t like books where a writer invents what a real person might have thought or said or how they acted. I assume that living among the artists in Hydra she might recall some conversations, even though she was quite young at the time. Still pleasant reading, keeping in mind to treat the characters as fictional, not who they were.

[Jeremy]

I loved this book. Beautifully told and so richly textured that I read it slowly, savouring every word. What a tale the author has to tell. I should disclose that tamar is my 1st cousin and that I know some of the characters and I can therefore also disclose that she has recreated them and brought them to life in an entirely believable and sympathetic way

[Luca Pasquy]

La storia romanzata, direi parecchio, della vita di Leonard Cohen sull’isola di Hydra e soprattutto dell’incontro con Marianne.
Ben scritto, profondo in alcune analisi psicologiche del poliedrico circo che viveva al di fuori di ogni regola in quel paradiso nascosto del Mediterraneo.
Fino all’epilogo, amaro e insieme dolcissimo, che tutti conosciamo.

[Vivien Baptiste]

I sat on a beach on a small Greek island reading this. I love Leonard Cohen and never knew the story of Marianne from the song of the same name. Couldn't put the book down(kindle). Captures an era and is moving. Made me nostalgic for the Sixties. I then googled Marianne. A love story.

[Colin Dickinson]

Coming or Cohen?

Pictures in every line. Beautifully crafted. I enjoyed the beauty of the mundane elevated into something special. More, more, encoure

[Andrea Mandry]

A wonderful book especially for fans of Leonard Cohen and all Grecophiles. Set in the early 60s on the Greek island of Hydra. A marvellous account of the lives not only of Leonard Cohen and Marianne, but the writers George Johnson and wife Charmian Clift, and other talented writers and artists up until the Junta arrived in the late sixties. All lead a hedonistic life style of drinking, partying and of course, writing and painting, etc. I just loved it and have read the book at least three times. Definitely five stars from me!