This is a gripping book—a soul-stirring testament by the author, in which all the characters, dates, and places mentioned are real.

The President of the Republic, Mr. Karolos Papoulias, in the foreword of the 2nd reprint of "Eleni," points out: "For many years, the civil war was a dark and closed chapter. The great national taboo. The secret of history. For the generations that grew up during this period, the harsh years of the civil war were the forbidden fruit of historical knowledge, the hidden shame of Greek society. Modern Greece is, at last, ready after the calming of passions, the apprenticeship in democracy, and the new European quality, to face the black pages of its history."

Alexandros Kotzias, translating the book in 1983, led the Greek reader through the most lyrical and expressive linguistic paths to Eleni's cry: The most savage war is always the civil war. For this reason, no linguistic intervention was made in the original text.

Presentations by: Thanasis Valtinos, Alexandros Lykourezos, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Theodoros Pangalos, Kostas Bliatkas, Periklis Sfyridis, Fotini Tomai, Lefteris Geitonas, Nikolaos Gontas, Christos Massalas are included.

"Eleni" was translated into twenty-six languages, received the Heinemann Award as the best book of 1984 from the Royal Literary Society of Great Britain. The film "Eleni," starring John Malkovich and Kate Nelligan, was made in 1985.