Gorilla on the Moon

White Ravens: Special mention (2014)

Maria lives in an utterly sealed off island village society during a time of crisis. Subject to her distant mother’s care and unwelcoming environment, the extremely visually impaired girl grows up without her father. His absence is never explained to her. The novel’s ingredients are many and varied a summer of extreme drought, an omen dug up at the edge of the village, animal figurines crafted by Maria’s father, relatives unknown until now, unusual friendships and animals who have escaped from a zoo. Marina fights her ways through a jungle of scheming and secrets with intelligence, courage and a dash of sarcasm, to bring light to the darkness and to learn the truth. In her multilayered, masterfully composed novel, Eleni Katsama focuses her vision as through a magnifying lens onto a dystopia microcosm and portrays the consequences of the decay of social values, the misuse of technology, of greed and corruption. (Source: White Ravens)