The art of narrative in the novel is a masterpiece. The interchange between serious and funny mo-ments, deliberation and action, the building tension of scenes that find the characters hovering be-tween life and death make for a thrilling read.
－－Elpiniki Nikoloudaki-Souri, Emeritus Professor in Modern Greek Literature, University of Crete

The setting—time and space—of the narrative is transmuted into yet another hero itself, with its own distinct character, who ‘converses’ with the heroines, welcomes them, ‘whispers’ secrets in their ears about legends, myths and local lore, pro-viding them with both a foundation and fertile ground to root themselves and grow; it takes them by the hand and leads them into maturity, towards adulthood. The ele-ments of nature function symbolically as a path of trial, atonement for the past, protection and recon-ciliation with the present. The dark lake, the lake of death, of remembrance and oblivion, wrestles to keep the young Hero in its waters, while the Tree King, with its great roots and branches, its ‘golden oars’, holds her steady in life, teaching her to face it with strength and optimism. Maria Papayanni masterfully builds a novel centering around the heroines’ coming of age, loss and the confrontation of a human’s greatest and deepest fear—death. At the same time, she skillfully creates an entire world that stands on its own, praising, in the end, life, friendship, nature, tradition and faith in the human being.
－－Chryssa Kouraki, Ph.D. in Children’s Literature, Uni-versity of Ioannina, Coordinator of Cultural Issues in Primary Education Directorate of East Attic.

★Rights sold: Hungary, Russia
★Nominated for the Literary Magazine Award of The Reader, nominated for the Greek National Award, selected for the ELNIPLEX Golden List!
★Full English translation available.

Suddenly, their lives were turned upside down. Leda and Hero had to spend the entire summer in a remote village in the mountains, without the sea. However, soon the girls began to establish connections with the village. They will also learn the stories of the people who live there. They discovered their mother's old diary and learned about the dark past of their family that they didn't know. The owner of a bookstore told them the legend of a magical oak tree, which was called a ship, and the elderly people worshipped it for its magical properties. But to get there, they must cross "the forbidden land" - a difficult gorge. Aro swears that she will even go alone. She is convinced that there must be a miracle.

The novel tells the story of a mysterious place where people believe in legends. A group of children will discover the power of friendship, love, and sacrifice, and dare to awaken the mystical tree because they know that if they are together, they will succeed, because sometimes, "being together"

Maria Papayanni (Author)
She studied Greek Language and Literature and worked as a journalist in radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.
Her first book was published in 2001. Ever since she has devoted herself to writing stories, fairy tales, and novels. She loves magical, traditional tales and narrates them to children when she visits schools. She also loves theatre and has penned librettos and verses for musical theatre. Her first book, "Goodnight, Mama," was published in 2001, the same year her second child was born. Her books have enjoyed great success with children and have won numerous awards in Greece, including:
· In 2002, she co-authored "Catch them!" with Philippos Mandilaras, which won the Merit Award by the Greek section of IBBY.
· "As If By Magic" won Greek IBBY Award and the Diavazo Literary Magazine Award
· "The Lonesome Tree" won the State Prize and the Diavazo Literary Magazine Award.
"You Will Win Another Day" has been translated into multiple languages.
· She was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2020 and 2022.

After all, she believes that books have wings:
“Children know well that when the sentence Once upon a time is uttered the door opens to the place where anything may happen. And children need the world of imagination in order to understand everyday life and its difficulties.”

In her own words:
I was born in Larissa, under Mount Olympus, where the 12 gods of antiquity lived.
I grew up in a large family where everyone had the gift of telling stories. Not fairy tales, but everyday life stories, which were told over huge tables in the summer; stories would add taste in our life, the way salt and pepper add flavour to our food. I recall tears alternating with laughter. These stories seemed to me like miracles, because they could release great powers. I don’t mean to say that everyone in my family was a bit of a liar, but exaggeration was something common. That’s how I came to believe that in the quiet, provincial town where I was growing up anything could happen. Growing up, instead of confessing to myself that my family used to exaggerate, I chose to believe that we were ‘special’ and ‘unique’. And I also decided that this was the only way I could tolerate reality and put up with everyday difficulties. By making up stories…
With stories, I have always had a season ticket in my pocket which allowed me to freely come and go between everyday life and the land where… anything may happen.