Praise for My Xanthi:
This novella tackles the relationship between justice and morality and asserts that, above all, "the human story needs a champion" . . . a story of love and loyalty that . . . finds a sharp moral focus.
– Kirkus Reviews
If you’re lucky, every once in a while you come across a book that overcomes you with its powerful story. My Xanthi, from first-time novelist Stephanie Cotsirilos, did that for me . . . My Xanthi has the moral heft of a much longer novel . . . [and] brilliantly juxtaposes the commonplace with the horrors of war and the desire for retribution.
– Frank O Smith, PEN/Bellwether finalist and Reviewer, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
. . . a thriller backdrop for a tale that challenges pat categorization and opens with a bang, portending the swift pace and attraction of the entire book . . . an engaging story that fires on all levels with solid emotional draws, vivid descriptions, and prose that's not cluttered with excessive details . . . My Xanthi is highly recommended from readers of coming-of-age stories and immigrant experience to those who look for astute considerations of survival and the pursuit of justice.
– D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
In Stephanie Cotsirilos' spellbinding and deeply moving novella, sixty-six-year-old, indefatigable criminal defense lawyer, Nick Milonas, is experiencing the most challenging period of his career . . . But letters from his Greek childhood nanny Xanthi are about to make a difference. They have been sitting in his drawer like "an unexploded incendiary device" . . . The tale is breathtaking, composed in delicate and piercing prose, and peppered with exciting and plot-driven dialogues.
– Daniel Rhodes for The Book Commentary
A beautiful, lyrical novella drawing the reader in with its suspenseful first sentence, My Xanthi is a probing exploration of the ravages of (un)civil uprisings, resistance, dislocation and survival. It is also the story of one woman’s bravery, resilience, and ability to endure the unimaginable while holding love deeply in her heart. Cotsirilos has written a powerful contemporary Greek tragedy that is all too familiar today. With her gifts of language and storytelling, Cotsirilos is an author to follow.
– Susan Clampitt, Former Deputy Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
This is first and foremost a wonderfully subtle character study of the mysterious Xanthi, a Greek widow who comes, as a nanny, to suburban Chicago in 1954. Her perspective of American life through the lens of her post WWII experiences in Greece will eventually touch every member of the Milonas family. Xanthi will stay with readers long after they close the book as she is slowly revealed through this epistolary narrative, which alternates between her letters and Nick's memory of her presence in his childhood.
– Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize Finalist and author of Daughters of the Stone
A coming-of-age story, a reckoning, and a taut psychological thriller, Stephanie Cotsirilos’ My Xanthi offers two unforgettable characters – Nick, a death-penalty defense lawyer and family man facing a crisis of conscience, and his beloved, long-dead Greek immigrant nanny, Xanthi, whose letters and grim secret . . . guide us into the darkest territory of the human heart, a place where the borders between good and evil, right and wrong blur . . . My Xanthi is a fearless look at law and justice and the difference between them. Cotsirilos’s gift for character development through voice along with her vivid, incandescent prose and intimate familiarity with the violence that convulsed both Greece and the United States during the last century, combine to reveal how a secret can send fault lines through generations and across continents.
– Carol Smith, Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist and author of Crossing the River: Seven Stories that Saved My Life
There’s a lot to love in this slim volume, a novella that punches far above its weight - a depth of discovery bigger than the words that fill the book, as the narrator considers the nuances of justice and the consequences of violence as they interact over generations and places . . . My Xanthi is highly, highly recommended by Sacred Chickens, both as a personal read or as a gift.
– Julie Carpenter, creator of Sacred Chickens website and author of Things Get Weird in Whistlestop
There is a special bliss for the children and grandchildren of immigrants in finding a work of fiction that so perfectly melds the pain and isolation of the new world with fierce pride and tragedy in the old. My Xanthi by Stephanie Cotsirilos is smart and insightful, exploring the complexities of mixed cultures, assimilation, justice, and generational trauma. It exposes biases and assumptions about innocence and guilt, as Greek-American defense attorney Nick Milonas relives the unsettling experiences of his long dead Greek nanny through a packet of old letters. Xanthi’s unease in American culture, the ugliness of the Greek Civil War, and the unraveling of a long held secret, pushes Nick to realize his deep understanding of human suffering and justice trace back to Xanthi, and influenced the trajectory of his life. This slim volume is packed with the hopes, dreams, humor, and trauma of the Greek people.
– Pamela Diotes Wood, Greek Like Me blog
My Xanthi is a powerful story about life, family, justice, and war—and the decisions we make in their names. This novella packs a punch. Stephanie Cotsirilos adeptly crafted an intriguing story that will draw you in from the first moment and keep you on the edge of your seat. The ending knocked me off my feet. This story will stay with me. Add it to your list.
– Maria A. Karamitsos, Windy City Greek blog
What readers are saying:
My Xanthi is a complex coming-of-age novella that will keep you reading deep into the night just like its central character: Nick Milonas. Nick received a stack of letters written by Xanthi, a Greek immigrant nanny who helped raise him as a child while his mother underwent treatment for breast cancer. It is these profound letters that help teach Nick about the complexities of justice and bridge the gap between him and his teenage daughter Tessa. A must read!
– Ray Marcotte, Reference & Technology Librarian, Windham Public Library, Windham, Maine
As a second-generation Greek-American, I was taken by Stephanie's style, character development, and her hints and sounds of the old country. It seemed to me I was on my Yiayia's lap, smelling garlic, lemon, and clove while reading the newspaper backwards, content and safe. Stephanie captured the impact, secrets, and complex stories of these solid, square Greek women who shaped my youth. She highlighted the best in her book's intriguing characters who longed, like so many of us, to find a place in this strange, incomprehensible new world called America. More, please.
– Vendean Vafiades, attorney and former Chief Judge of Maine District Courts
