Fresh, natural, direct, and most of all, sweet. Elements that, within the craziness and the alienation of the modern era, we all definitely need. They fill us and energize us – or better yet, they re-energize us – on a purely emotional level. […] A teenage love with a backdrop of social inequality. A village latched onto the rocks, next to the sea, but below the shadow of the mountain. People, who are also latched onto the rocks, have the sea right next to them but still feel like mountain dwellers… Excellent opportunities for symbolism and analytical prompts. […] Within the pages of this book, I played with symbols, ideas, and images. I followed the characters on their beautiful but dangerous journeys, and I concluded that this story is contemporary and timeless, so much so that I actually thought it might have reached me through the past, the present and the future of Greece and Cyprus. […] The novel hinges on the borders of magical realism. As inspired writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez have shown us, magical realism oftentimes manages to, in a way, reveal truths about the reality of a place, its intensity and passion, which realism cannot even get close to.
--Petros Panaou, Assistant Professor, University of Georgia, Language and Literacy Education

The greatest revolutions are those based on Dreams and Ideas... Papayanni’s style possesses this rare quality – also manifest in some of her previous works – of leading the reader, through the power of her descriptions, into unsuspected secret passages.
--Manos Kontoleon, writer

The Lonesome Tree is like an amulet close to our skin and our soul; its tiny eye is peeping into our hidden lives. It is the entrails of the ancient olive tree that gave birth to lore and legend; tales of human frailty and suffering; unexplored desire and unyielding love; kindness and cruelty; rebellious summers hanging over precipices, residing in caves ... It is a talisman carrying the smells of the village; herbs and sea-salt; ripe grapes and apricots; the pungent pong of that dog which followed you through demanding and heroic tasks; miracles and tempests; skinny dipping in the gentle morning sea ...
--Babis Gambrelis, “To Periodiko tis Polis”

★Rights sold: Russia, Serbia, North Macedonia.
★The book won State Prize and Diavazo Literary Magazine Award!
★Full English translation available.

A story about the dreams of a village. About a boy that grew up with legends and fairytales. About a woman everyone calls crazy. About the votive of-ferings that traveled on the branches of a tree. That lonesome tree that gazes out to sea and brings people together.
Set in our days, in a village far and lonely.

Like set in stone. Far in the distance, the sea. In a land where everything lasts and lives on forever: past loves, memories, traditions, mistakes, and the shiver of ancient prophecies. In spring, the beach fills with tiny flowers, wild violets or violas. This is where Violeta returns, an aged woman now, after years of absence. At the same time, the votive offerings of the church go missing and suspicion falls on her. Her past is shadowy, her present uncertain. A witch is what everyone calls her.

Simos, a young boy raised on local legends, is the only one who believes in her innocence. But dare he stand up against his friends who organize a whole conspiracy to unveil the true face of the witch? Through the memories of the older gen-eration and the disclosures of the younger ones, unfolds the history of the village and its people.
A place of both light and darkness, searching for its truth through local beliefs and superstitions, dreams and visions, suffering and conciliation.

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.