Eleni, or Nobody

By Rhea Galanaki

Winner of the 1999 Greek State Prize for Best Novel

Rather than consent to spinsterhood at age twenty-seven, Eleni Altamura sets sail with her seafaring father to Italy, where she is to study painting at the famed School of the Nazarenes. Once in Naples, Eleni flees her female identity and, disguised as a young man, walks with her father to Rome. Along the way she falls in love with her would-be husband while learning to navigate life in a man's world--as a man. But when love reveals her femininity, Eleni marries the father of her children, the first of the many tragedies she will have to endure. She continues to question her identity as her life choices spark rumors she may be a powerful, mad magician, or just another crazy old woman.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810118858
• ISBN13: 9780810118850
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.5"