It’s the essence of Cypriot life abroad and the subject of a witty novel about the life of English Cypriots
ONCE there was a young Greek Cypriot girl who lived in England. As with many others, her parents had moved from Cyprus to the UK and opened up a fish and chip shop, this time on a run-down Nottingham council estate. Anna has the usual teenage angst to deal with in addition to a very fussy mother who wants nothing more than to marry her off to a Greek Cypriot but Anna has other plans. Anna is the central character in Eat, Drink and Be Married, a humourous novel about the life of Greek
Cypriots in England, a subject about which the author, Eve Makis is well versed.
“I was born in England and have lived there all my life,” Eve said “and even though I didn’t have the Greek Cypriot mentality, my parents did. In England we were brought up very strictly and my teenage years were very different from those of my English friends.” After leaving Cyprus in the 1950s and going to England, her parents have lived the life of most Greek Cypriots abroad, largely with little heed to what is actually going on on the island. “I’ve only just realised myself that everything is different in Cyprus,” Eve commented, “people have changed and grown up. They are more easy-going but back then, and especially in the 1980s, everything was much more strict.”
Even though the book has different stories to tell, the main line is marriage. Anna’s mother, Tina, your typical Greek Cypriot mum, has one yearning and that is to marry off her daughter to a suitable Greek Cypriot. But Anna wants nothing more than to escape from life behind the fish and chip shop counter and go off to university, which of course, her mother thinks is nonsense. “In Cyprus, years ago, the most important thing was to get married, have kids and basically start a family,” said Eve, “therefore girls were not allowed to go out or have boyfriends because they wouldn’t be suitable for marriage. Because my parents grew up in a certain culture, they wanted the same for their children but they weren’t doing it in a nasty way, they were only doing it to protect them.”
Eve tells the story of endless blind dates she went on, something like arranged marriages, which went on a lot in those days. But did she marry a Greek/Cypriot? “Yes, I did,” she says laughing, “but it wasn’t fixed or arranged. I found him by myself during a time I was working in Cyprus.” Eve lives with her husband and daughter in Nottingham and although her husband runs their business of selling Cypriot ceramics and handicrafts, she insists she isn’t really a typical Greek Cypriot, like her parents were. “I understand now why my parents raised me the way they did but I don’t really go to church, or cook Greek food and I am not part of the Greek community,” Eve explained. But her daughter, Emily, can speak Greek and is fascinated with Cyprus. “It doesn’t snow here, does it?” Emily asked me.
For your chance to win a copy of Eat, Drink and be Married turn to page 69
SEVEN QUESTIONS
What car do you drive?
I drive a Peugeot 206
Describe your perfect weekend.
Being with my husband and my daughter in a city like Barcelona
Assuming you believe in reincarnation, who or what would you come back as?
I would come back as a flower. An anemone
What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fears are maternal fears
What is your earliest memory?
I remember kissing my next-door neighbour when I was four. You can understand how bad that was!
What did you have for breakfast?
I had some toast, anari and honey
What is the last item of clothing that you bought?
I bought a pin-stripe suit for my book launch
