Books by John Manuel

Two teenage sisters, growing up in the Plaka district of Athens, Greece. Life seems idyllic, and the girls can't think of anything that they ought to worry about, except for having a good time.The only problem is, this is the late 1930's, and things are about to change in ways they could never have imagined.An old woman lies dying in a hospice in the UK. She has an incurable cancer and is in the early stages of dementia. Yet, in her lucid moments, she wants to tell her story, before it's too late and her secrets are lost forever, to the only person who will listen. That person is her nephew, a retired accountant who has the time to sit and keep her company during her long, lonely, final days.Panayiota was a teenager when the Germans walked into Athens in 1941. How she ended up in a hospice in the UK is the subject of an extraordinary tale, during the telling of which her nephew will learn things that will shake what he believes about his family and himself to the very core.

When Lewis and his Greek wife Katerini return to the island of her birth for a visit, neither could have predicted the series of events that would unfold, resulting in both of them coming to wonder if they'll ever see each other again. Katerini, though, wonders if she'll even live to see anyone at all. From the author of "The View From Kleoboulos", "A Brief Moment of Sunshine" and "Eve of Deconstruction" comes a dark tale of the results arising from misdeeds done many years in the past - with potentially tragic consequences.

Adrian Dando has a good marriage, and a steady, if somewhat pedestrian life in the West of England. Without warning it all goes horribly wrong and he is left alone and bereft.Having two friends who have already moved out to Greece, he decides, with their encouragement, to do likewise. After all, a new start, a new life, new experiences, all of these should enable him to kick-start his life again, maybe even bring him some degree of happiness.A 'chance' discovery of a woman's body in a quiet location not far from his home starts a chain of events that just may turn his idyll into a nightmare.But is everything as it seems? With a plot that twists like series of old olive branches, ""Two in the Bush"" carries enough surprises to keep you wondering to the last page.

This is a frank, amusing, poignant, hard-hitting, controversial yet always absorbing take on over a decade of life on a Greek island. ¿ In "A Jay in the Jacaranda Tree" John tackles such themes as the current economic crisis, the confusing political scene in Greece, refugees, immigrant workers, the health service and the cat and dog situation. ¿ He pulls no punches and expresses his views after having lived on Rhodes since 2005. His insight will make you laugh, cry, possibly frown, yet always it will engage you. This is a frank, yet deep down affectionate, look at the Rhodes and the Greece of the past turbulent decade.