Alexandros Papadiamandis (1851–1911) was born and grew up on the Aegean island of Skiathos, where he also spent the last years of his life. Though his thoughts were ever on Skiathos and its inhabitants, he lived most of his adult life in Athens and earned a basic living by translating foreign authors and writing his own stories for newspapers and periodicals. His simple, reclusive and pious life earned him the title of ‘kosmokalό­yeros’ (lay monk). His translations include works by authors as diverse as Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, de Maupassant, Bram Stoker and Jerome K. Jerome. His own work comprises four early novels and almost two hundred short stories.

”The ‘saint’ of modern Greek letters... Papadiamandis wrote with graphic realism and unequalled passion.” — Times Literary Supplement; “The greatest Modern Greek prose writer.” — Milan Kundera