Sophia Trikoupi, sister of Charilaos Trikoupis, was an iconic figure in Greek history. She lived at the heart of the political developments of the 19th century. A woman who would still be considered modern today. She made decisions that defied social conventions, loved a man who was her brother’s main political rival, and lived her own revolution with pain and strength. Through her eyes, we will traverse an important part of Greek history and understand much about the present. History is the story of people, and the people who shape History also have weaknesses and passions, make mistakes, are swayed by pettiness, egos, loves, and ambitions, as is evident in this remarkable historical novel.
Freddy Germanos brought to light the story of a woman who did not fit into the molds of her time.
I met the Velvet Woman at the end of the 1950s, through a story by Roussos in Nea titled “The Spinster-Prime Minister.” The title did not particularly intrigue me. I was still a young reporter, uninterested in either spinsters or prime ministers. But the heroine won me over immediately. A pink figure against a black background—a woman loved by two prime ministers (perhaps even by a king!), only to grow old, in the end, completely alone in the hostile Athens of our century. Over the next thirty years, I reported on Sophia Trikoupi without knowing it. I had no plan in mind yet. But I was enchanted by her shadow.
Freddy Germanos
