The Backstory:
The Greek Islands

One of the most remarkable, and underappreciated stories of World War II is that of the stubborn and heroic resistance of the Cretan people against their Nazi occupiers.

Natural Born Heroes explores the source of their heroism born of millenia of resisting tyrants and great powers. What are the factors that make a people universally fearless and capable of seemingly super-human feats of endurance? The answers are found in history, nutrition, physiology, and a symbiotic relationship with a rugged and forbidding landscape.

This book will make you a sponge for all things Crete.

This book also explores the WWII chapter of Cretan history. A work of historical fiction, Authur, Richard Clark transports the reader to the magnificent splendour of Crete’s White Mountains.

When musician Sarah Piper’s beloved grandfather dies, he bequeaths her a gift that will change her life forever. Traveling to Crete to discover the truth about her grandfather’s past, she finds her own future.

On our trip, you’ll walk some of the same ancient paths to secret refuges that are featured in this compelling tale.

If you enjoyed Natural Born Heroes, this is your logical next read. 

George Psychoundakis was a young shepherd boy who knew the island of Crete intimately when the Nazis invaded by air in 1941. He immediately joined the resistance and took on the crucial job of war-time runner. It was not only the toughest but the most dangerous job of all. It involved immense journeys carrying vital messages, smuggling arms and explosives and guiding Allied soldiers, agents and commandos through heavily garrisoned territory. And George did not escape capture and torture on his many forays. This brilliant account of George's activities across mountainous terrain, come blazing summer or freezing winter, is a gripping story of bravery against impossible odds.

This is a brilliant telling of the Greek Myth most associated with the Island of Crete. It will bring your visit to the ancient Minoan Palace at Knossos to life.

In myth, Theseus was the slayer of the child-devouring Minotaur in Crete. What the founder-hero might have been in real life is another question, brilliantly explored in The King Must Die. Drawing on modern scholarship and archaeological findings at Knossos, Mary Renault's Theseus is an utterly lifelike figure—a king of immense charisma, whose boundless strivings flow from strength and weakness—but also one steered by implacable prophecy.

The story follows Theseus's adventures from Troizen to Eleusis, where the death in the book's title is to take place, and from Athens to Crete, where he learns to jump bulls and is named king of the victims. Richly imbued with the spirit of its time, this is a page-turner as well as a daring act of imagination.

The Island of Crete gets a few mentions in the book of Acts in the Bible. Most significantly, the apostle, Paul, sends gentile convert, Titus, there to plant and shepherd churches. The book of Titis, offers tantalizing but scant hints of what he faced there during his long Ministry.  This book draws on Biblical and historical sources to weave a historical novel of his life on Crete.

This is your book if you want some guidance for your imagination of what it was like to be a missionary on a pagan island known for its lawless, rough and tumble culture.