Wheeler, Sara: Evia: Travels on an Undiscovered Greek Island

The seahorse-shaped island of Evia - Euboia in classical history and Negroponte for many centuries - is the second largest in Greece, yet it is almost completely undiscovered by tourists. Separated from the mainland by only a sliver of sea, Evia has had a turbulent history. Today it encapsulates the Greece of decades ago - unspoilt and pristine, a haven for the more discerning traveller. Evia, Sara Wheeler's first book, is the story of a five-month journey she made from the southern tip to the north of the island. Instantly enchanted by the landscape and languid pace of Evia, Wheeler immersed herself in the local way of life, where she witnessed centuries-old traditions, attended a goatherd's wedding and Bronze-age excavations, was harassed by Orthodox nuns, and spent nights in monasteries and village homes. Her story is a beautifully rendered account of a way of life that in the rest of Greece has all but disappeared and of an island on the cusp of change.