"I want her to die! I want her to disappear from my life now! If there is a god, he will take her and relieve me!"

Marilia should have been careful what she wished for.
On the brink of thirty, when everything in her life was turned upside down, she discovered how much one can regret the wish they made.


Marilia, Tita, Paris, and Fotis. The group of four. A little before and a little after thirty. All of them, each in their own way, faced the other side of love. The one that oppresses, brutally abuses, deprives individual freedoms, and ultimately, tortures.
Their relationships go through fire and iron, but their secret to endure and continue is one word: Together.
Because friends, most of the time, are the family we chose to create.

• Complex family relationships: The book explores the deep and often conflicting dynamics within the family, the expectations, disappointments, and hidden secrets that shape the characters.

• The consequences of our choices and wishes: The narrative emphasizes how decisions, even the most impulsive wishes, can have unpredictable and decisive impacts on our lives and the lives of those around us.

• The power of friendship and the search for love: Through hardships, friendship emerges as a support and source of strength, while the heroes experience both the tender and dark sides of love.

• Because it is a story that mirrors the twists of life and the internal conflicts that we all experience at some point.
  
• Because it deals with the complexity of human relationships, from family ties to strong friendships and romantic adventures.
  
• To follow the journey of Marilia and her friends as they face tough challenges, discovering the strength hidden within them.

"We are never going back, father!" she told him.

"I will not raise my child in fear of when the Turks will slaughter him or when they will take his property and drive him away! In any case, everything will end up in their hands eventually! At least this way, I will have sold them, they won't have taken them from me by force! And if you want to listen to me, do as I do and come with me!"

Grandmother Vasiliki was so determined that Grandfather Leandros couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her at his door with their son in her arms. He would describe the scene sometimes laughing and sometimes crying out of pride for his wife.

"I will never forget the look in her eyes. Her eyes were throwing lightning! Her hair was disheveled from hardship, she was tired, her lips pressed together, while poor Patroklos was bruised from crying. The fearless woman had hidden all the gold coins on the child! Even inside his shoes! She had ripped out the soles, put the coins inside, and glued them back, so the child couldn't walk. His little coat weighed kilos and she had even sewn coins into his hat. It took us two days to find them all. Your grandmother was an extraordinary woman!" he would always conclude, wiping away tears, each one a sharp piece of glass for his heart. That heart lasted only one year after her loss. It finally broke and went to find her in Paradise, when I was fifteen years old.

Lena Manda was born in Istanbul and permanently resides in Kapandriti. She studied to be a kindergarten teacher, but she engaged in writing, puppetry, and radio.

• She had a puppet theater troupe, wrote and adapted fairy tales, and worked as a radio program director and presenter.

• She was awarded "Author of the Year 2009" by Life & Style magazine. Her works have been translated into Turkish, Albanian, and Chinese, while "Waltz with Twelve Gods" became a television series.