AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES CHATTO,
Author of THE GREEK FOR LOVE

Many of us dream about leaving the rat race and running off to a warm island. You made this dream come true at a very young age. What three tips or words of wisdom could you provide young adults contemplating a similar move?

Don’t do it when one of you is six months pregnant.

You know and love your island under idyllic summer conditions, but try and find out what it’s like in the dead of winter. The same applies to your relationship with the other pioneer.

Revel in every moment.

The reader is able to get first-hand thoughts from your wife Wendy through her letters to family and friends at home. Did you intend on using these letters later on for your memoir?

Not at all. I was lucky that a handful of letters survived for me to use as the basis of those sections.

In The Greek For Love you provide wonderful descriptions of delicious Greek cuisine. Are there any ingredients or dishes you miss the most when at home in Canada?

I miss every piece of fruit and every vegetable. Beside a ripe Greek peach or melon or tomato, bursting with sweet tangy juice, Ontario’s finest seem like tennis balls.

Do you ever experience bouts of “homesickness” for Greece and if so, how do you find a cure here in Toronto?

There is no cure except to go back to Greece as often as we can afford to do it.

Development and urbanization in Loutses often threatened to intrude on your idyllic home life. You write of the many changes that have taken place. What are the most disturbing and do the permanent residents share your opinion?

There are very few children left in the village now, and not many people under the age of 40. Though Loutses resists urbanization, it is falling asleep, gradually being reabsorbed into the mountains. Houses stand empty, many olive groves are now untended. Our Greek friends who remain complain to us that the greatest cause of anxiety is the number of foreigners buying property in the village. We are flattered that they don’t include us in this judgement but we, too, hope Loutses does not evolve into an enclave of English and German retirees.

Readers of The Greek For Love learn of the strong relationship you have with your wife, even through tragedy. What tips or secrets can you share for this success?

It’s really no secret at all: honest communication and the ability to forgive.

The years you lived on the island of Corfu is quite a unique experience compared to the packaged all-inclusive resort approach many travelers experience. What recommendations would you provide to vacationers heading to Corfu and are eager to sight-see off the beaten path?

Turn away from the beach and head inland into the mountains. Half a mile from the sea, everything changes. Go in April, May or October when the island is most alive and most beautiful and the old rhythms of the seasons can be most easily experienced. Wake up before dawn and go outside; stay awake as late as you possibly can.

You recently purchased a home next to your place in Loutses and have plans to renovate. Through your descriptions in The Greek For Love, your initial renovation many years ago were quite an ordeal. Are there any key lessons you will take from that experience this time around?

Research. Do as much as possible yourself. Take every promise with a generous handful of salt. And it’s all much, much easier if you aren’t totally destitute.

Can you tell us how you became a writer?

I started writing when I was nine in order to amuse my friends at school. My first published book came from sending off a succession of novels in manuscript to a friend who was a publisher. She urged me to abandon fiction but mentioned she might be able to publish a cookbook. So I wrote a cookbook but with largely fictional recipes…

What do you hope your readers walk away feeling after reading The Greek For Love?

Writing a personal memoir, a memoir without any historical significance or profound insights, has always seemed to me to be rather a vain and impudent undertaking. The only justification might be that readers find the characters vivid enough to be engaging and the writing itself entertaining. I hope they feel they have acquired some sense of the island and the village and that they understand why we love the place and the people so much.


From the Hardcover edition.

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