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    When the Cypress Whispers: A Novel
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    When the Cypress Whispers: A Novel
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    When the Cypress Whispers: A Novel
    Ebook377 pages5 hours

    When the Cypress Whispers: A Novel

    By Yvette Manessis Corporon

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “A rich, emotionally-nuanced story about a woman’s deeply held connection to her family and her past. With an evocative setting and finely-drawn characters, Corporon creates a beautiful world you won’t soon forget.”  — Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author

    On a beautiful Greek island, myths, magic, and a colorful cast of characters come together in When the Cypress Whispers, Yvette Manessis Corporon’s lushly atmospheric story about past and present, family and fate, love and dreams that poignantly captures the deep bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother.

    The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne aspires to the American Dream, yet feels as if she’s been sleepwalking through life. Caught between her family’s old-world traditions and the demands of a modern career, she cannot seem to find her place.

    Only her beloved grandmother on Erikousa, a magical island off the coast of Greece, knows her heart. Daphne’s fondest memories are of times spent in the kitchen with Yia-yia, cooking and learning about the ancient myths. It was the thought of Yia-yia that consoled Daphne in the wake of her husband’s unexpected death.

    After years of struggling to raise her child and pay the bills, Daphne now has a successful restaurant, a growing reputation as a chef, and a wealthy fiancé—everything she’s ever wanted. But across the ocean, Yia-yia can see through the storybook perfection of Daphne’s new life— and now she is calling her back to Erikousa. She has secrets about the past to share with her granddaughter— stories from the war, of loyalty and bravery in the face of death. She also has one last lesson to teach her: that security is not love, and that her life can be filled with meaning again. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 1, 2014
    ISBN9780062267597
    Unavailable
    When the Cypress Whispers: A Novel
    Author

    Yvette Manessis Corporon

    Yvette Manessis Corporon is an internationally bestselling author and Emmy Award–winning producer. To date, her books have been translated into sixteen languages. A first generation Greek-American with deep family roots on Corfu, Yvette studied classical civilization and journalism at New York University. She lives in Brooklyn with her family where she spends her spare time reading, running, and trying to get into yoga. Visit her online at yvettecorporon.com; Instagram: @yvettecorporon; Twitter: @YvetteNY; Facebook: @YvetteManessisCorporonAuthor.

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    Reviews for When the Cypress Whispers

    3/5

    20 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Daphne is a chef running a restaurant in New York. A restaurant she built after her husband tragically died leaving her a young widow with an infant daughter. She has spent the years since his death building the restaurant and trying to make a secure life for herself and little Evie. She has only just allowed herself to consider dating and now re-marriage. But something is calling her back to the island of her childhood, the home of her Yia-Yia - Erikousa, Greece. Instead of the big, fancy New York wedding she convinces her fiance that she NEEDS to get married there. She has to see her grandmother again.Once back she introduces Evie to the places she played as a little girl and Daphne starts to relax. She meets a mysterious friend of her grandmother's; a young man whom she never knew who knows secrets from her grandmother's past that Daphne does not. How can that be? They are, of course, like oil and vinegar. Slowly Daphne learns about her grandmother's WWII past and she can't believe she knew nothing of the horror that touched her island refuge.She also learns that her grandmother might be more connected to the island than Daphne ever knew. As the winds in the cypress trees tell their secrets Daphne needs to decide which is best path for her to take.There was much to like about When the Cypress Whispers; it is beautifully written and I found myself lost in the lure of a beautiful Greek island. But there is much that caused me a touch of aggravation as well. The book was so much more than a romance and yet we have a couple meeting in the oh so typical manner of boy meets girl, girl does not like boy. Boy does not like girl. SOMETHING HAPPENS. Each sees the other in a new light, blah, blah, blah. There was a rich history and the meeting was trite. The relationship was trite. I found it hard to believe that Daphne was supposedly so smart yet knew nothing of the WWII history of her precious island. The ending left much to be desired.Yet I found that I loved Erikousa and its crazy inhabitants. When writing of the Island the book was magical. Yia-Yia was also a beautifully written character. Only when dealing with Daphne and her love life did it fall flat for me.
    • 2/5
      Starting this book, I was very excited. The plot about a woman finding herself appeals to me and it became clear very early on that magical realism was going to play a role in this story as well. The place descriptions were hit or miss for me, but the author did a great job capturing the main character’s feelings as a little girl. This made sense because the author has mentioned that she drew on her own childhood experiences when writing the book. I also loved the Greek culture that was included, from a sprinkling of Greek words to great food descriptions. The myths that were included were another thing that was hit or miss for me, since sometimes it felt like too much exposition, but in general signs pointed to this being a book I was going to enjoy immensely. However, the modern day story just didn’t work for me.

      It’s clear from the beginning that something is supposed to be wrong with Daphne’s relationship with her fiance. He doesn’t do anything wrong though and seems like a good guy. He’s not entirely comfortable with Greek culture and he helped Daphne enough that she questions her ability to run her restaurant on her own. That doesn’t make him a bad guy though or even the wrong guy for Daphne. The one truly terrible thing he does seems completely out of character for him. I just didn’t buy it. And the fact that Daphne is sexually attracted to another man who never apologized for being a jerk to her when they first met didn’t sit well with me either. In fact, not only is he a jerk to her, her wonderful Yia-yia completely lets him get away with it. Both Daphne’s Yia-yia and the sexy jerk might have a point that Daphne would be happier if she spent more time on family and less time at work. However, they were both very harsh to Daphne and she was very hard on herself. In the end, it made me feel like the moral of this story was that women should prioritize families over their careers and that people are bad if they don’t maintain their traditional ways.

      I still might have given this book three stars, because the writing is honestly good enough that it deserves three stars, if it weren’t for the ending. Despite the message of the book, I could have been happy for our main character if she got a happy ending. Instead she gets an ambiguous ending in which sexy jerk is once again a jerk and there is no explanation of how she resolves the conflict between her career and family obligations. I know some people like ambiguous endings, but I hate them and that was enough to solidly ruin this book for me.

      This review first published on Doing Dewey.
    • 3/5
      When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon is a novel situated in one of the most beautiful places on Earth: a small Greek island. I just love Greece, and the book described some amazing scenery which really brought me back to the vacation my husband and I took a few years ago.In When the Cypress Whispers Daphne lost the love of her life Alex in a tragic accident. It’s been years, and she and her daughter Evie have since moved on. Daphne will soon marry Stephen, who is wealthy and has helped Daphne create her dream of owning a successful restaurant in NYC. When Daphne takes Evie to the Greek isle of Erikousa before the wedding (which will be on the island later), Evie and Daphne fall back in love with this amazing place.At the same time, Daphne finds out that her grandmother, Yia-yia, is hiding a secret. An amazing secret that makes Daphne question herself and the life she has made.I really really wanted more of the historical fiction part of the book. It was such a tiny piece, and I think that with more of that historical fiction. . . For the full review, visit Love at First Book
    • 3/5
      Delightful descriptions of food. Good fun, nice light read. Borrowed from Aunt Julie, who remembered I had been to Greece.
    • 4/5
      Daphne is a chef running a restaurant in New York. A restaurant she built after her husband tragically died leaving her a young widow with an infant daughter. She has spent the years since his death building the restaurant and trying to make a secure life for herself and little Evie. She has only just allowed herself to consider dating and now re-marriage. But something is calling her back to the island of her childhood, the home of her Yia-Yia - Erikousa, Greece. Instead of the big, fancy New York wedding she convinces her fiance that she NEEDS to get married there. She has to see her grandmother again.Once back she introduces Evie to the places she played as a little girl and Daphne starts to relax. She meets a mysterious friend of her grandmother's; a young man whom she never knew who knows secrets from her grandmother's past that Daphne does not. How can that be? They are, of course, like oil and vinegar. Slowly Daphne learns about her grandmother's WWII past and she can't believe she knew nothing of the horror that touched her island refuge.She also learns that her grandmother might be more connected to the island than Daphne ever knew. As the winds in the cypress trees tell their secrets Daphne needs to decide which is best path for her to take.There was much to like about When the Cypress Whispers; it is beautifully written and I found myself lost in the lure of a beautiful Greek island. But there is much that caused me a touch of aggravation as well. The book was so much more than a romance and yet we have a couple meeting in the oh so typical manner of boy meets girl, girl does not like boy. Boy does not like girl. SOMETHING HAPPENS. Each sees the other in a new light, blah, blah, blah. There was a rich history and the meeting was trite. The relationship was trite. I found it hard to believe that Daphne was supposedly so smart yet knew nothing of the WWII history of her precious island. The ending left much to be desired.Yet I found that I loved Erikousa and its crazy inhabitants. When writing of the Island the book was magical. Yia-Yia was also a beautifully written character. Only when dealing with Daphne and her love life did it fall flat for me.
    • 3/5
      When life has handed a person terrible tragedy to get through, sometimes it is easiest to settle for safety rather than risk your heart again. But can the people who know and love you best let you settle or should they push you to open yourself wide again to all the experience, emotion, joy, and yes, even sorrow that is possible? Yvette Manessis Corporon's novel, When the Cypress Whispers, explores this idea through its main character, a woman on the brink of a major life change. Daphne is the daughter of Greek immigrants who worked hard chasing the American Dream. Daphne herself has been the one to grasp the golden ring of success as a chef and restaurant owner in New York City. But her success hasn't been without tragedy and sacrifice. Her husband was killed in an accident, leaving Daphne with their infant daughter, Evie, who she loves dearly but to whom she has not been able to devote much time, completely invested in her restaurant as she is and must be for their survival. But she's made a success and her life seems to be taking a wonderful upturn. She's engaged to Stephen, a wealthy banker, who will ensure her financial stability and comfort. But even as her life is moving forward, Daphne is pulled to her past and to the wonderful, carefree summers of her girlhood spent on the Greek island of Erikousa with her Yia-yia. And so she is determined to go back to the island, to introduce her daughter to her beloved grandmother, and to marry Stephen in the place that is so dear to her heart. Going back to Erikousa opens Daphne's eyes to her own connection to the place and people there. She is wrapped in a love and acceptance that makes her bloom again. And Evie, a shy and retiring child, comes out of her shell in the warm embrace of the effusive and exuberant bosom of her extended family. As Daphne and Yia-yia enjoy each other's company once again, Daphne has the chance to listen to her grandmother's stories and her telling of Greek myths. But there is a story that Yia-yia has never shared with Daphne, a story that she only hears from Yianni, a man she's never met before who seems to have a close and loving relationship with her grandmother. Although Yianni initially antagonizes and judges Daphne each time they meet, it is from him that she finally hears the story of her grandmother's amazing act of courage in sheltering a Jewish woman and her daughters during the German occupation of Greece. And it is in this revelation of her grandmother's prescience about the German soldiers and their movements to and from Erikousa that Daphne finally starts to believe in Yia-yia's assertion that the cypress trees whisper to her in their voices of her ancestors, an enduring private oracle. Daphne cannot hear the voices herself, she doesn't know how to listen for them, and she does not know what her future holds but her yia-yia, knowing what must happen, counsels her, wanting Daphne to choose to live her life with a heart wide open instead of choosing the safe and easy course because she is worried that the grief she has already suffered through the loss of her husband and the murder of her parents will swamp her again. The family relationships in this novel are touching and lovely. That the whole island of Erikousa wants the best for Daphne and her little Evie highlights the close and deep ties forged in communities that value connection above all else. The insertion of the myths and the supernatural idea of the cypress whispers adds to the exoticism of the tiny Greek island setting. Corporon has drawn some of the secondary characters beautifully. Daphne's cousin Popi is a riot and Thea Nitsa, the portly, cigarette-smoking innkeeper is a hoot as well as a reality check for Daphne. Her fiancé Stephen is not as well fleshed out as these overwhelming women, nor is Yianni and his relationship with Daphne is too fast and unbelievable. There was a lot of description in the novel, making it clear that Corporon is used to writing for a visual medium. But sometimes that description is too much or slightly overwrought, and it can be very repetitive. It wasn't necessary or realistic for Daphne to continually wonder at her yia-yia's intelligence given that she was uneducated; in fact, it made Daphne seem rather a snob about one of the people she loved most in the world, something that was certainly unintended. But Daphne's attraction to tradition and the myths was appealing and her newly kindled desire to share her heritage with Evie was touching. The ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory though as there was really no farewell or until we meet again with the island that offered her so much at this crossroads in her life and which was clearly so important to who she was becoming. Despite a few missteps like this, this novel of tradition and modernity, family and love turned out to be a nice read for a sun drenched day. And if a breeze is blowing gently through the leaves of a tree nearby as you read, even better.