Cally’s Way
by Jane Bow
Cally’s Way is an adventure about love and loss, mothers and daughters, and the way historical horrors shape our identities whether we know about them or not.
Set in Crete, the novel interweaves the 2002 story of Cally, a 25-year old business graduate, with the World War II story of Callisto, her grandmother, who was a runner in the Cretan Resistance. Cally’s mother was born on Crete but has always refused to talk about it. Now she has died, leaving one instruction: that before she starts her first job, Cally should visit her mother’s homeland.On Crete’s south coast she meets Oliver, a reticent, very attractive U.S. Army deserter, and a night of love awakens feelings Cally has never known. Then, waiting for her plane in Athens airport, she learns from a television that the company she is about to work for is killing people with water pollution.
These two events demolish Cally’s fragile equilibrium, setting her on a new, uncharted path, back in Crete, that strips her of even her clothes. It also takes her deep into the mountains on a motorcycle, and into the history of Crete’s brutal Nazi occupation, before leading to deep love, a horrific family discovery, and a future she never would have imagined.
Cally’s Way was published traditionally in 2014 by Iguana Books, Toronto, ON in print and ebook formats.
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Reviews and Articles:
“Accomplished and lyrical… romantic but tough-minded in a beautiful setting…”
Kirkus Reviews (Read the full review here)
“Jane’s love for Crete, its people and customs shines through and draws the reader in… The questions posed by Cally’s journey of self discovery are ones that any reader will be able to connect with. This book is highly recommended…”
Rethymnon Bugle
Told in spirited, lyrical prose, the story of Callisto (Cally) Armstrong’s quest for her family’s hidden past in Greece and Crete during World War II is also the story of a young woman’s personal quest for an authentic identity and way to live. Adeptly weaving the intergenerational themes and narratives together, author Jane Bow gives readers an engaging and deeply poignant picture of the Greek and Cretan resistance under Nazi occupation, but she also gives her readers an equally engaging story of a young woman’s transformation through hard-won knowledge and love. Cally’s Way resonates deeply, moreover, with surprising connections among the violent and tragic occupations of the Second World War, the post-war anti-Communist paranoia in the West, and our current occupations and the insurgencies they engender in the Middle East. A satisfying and revelatory read.
Robert J. Begiebing, award-winning novelist and Professor of English Emeritus, Southern New Hampshire University
Bow’s beautifully written tale evokes the scent of the wild thyme on the Cretian hills, the taste of a freshly picked orange, the sweetness of golden honey. Cally, like us, is seduced by it all and awakens to the possibility of a new way to live. But at the same time as we’re lulled by the warm Cretian sun on our face, we are held in suspense by the island’s cruel past and Cally’s grim family secret, which spike the idyllic landscape with page-turning tension.I loved Cally’s Way, not just the fascinating history and stunning island backdrop, but also the well-drawn, endearing characters of Cally, the beautiful but troubled Oliver and Wrecks, his dog. An engaging and compelling read.
Hilary Boyd, bestselling U.K. author of Thursdays In The Park
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