We chat with author Henriette Lazaridis about Last Days In Plaka, which is an immersive and multifaceted novel that explores the lies at the heart of an old woman’s identity and the desperation of a young woman’s struggle to belong—think The Talented Mr. Ripley by way of Elena Ferrante.
Hi, Henriette! Welcome back! How has the past year and a bit been since we last spoke?
It’s nice to be back! Since I was last here, so to speak, my novel Terra Nova has been out in the world, and I’ve had the great delight to speak to book groups and readers at bookstores and elsewhere. And, with a friend and business partner, I’ve been working on launching a new publishing company that will re-envision every stage of the industry, from submissions to distribution, publishing bold books that defy categorization.
Your latest novel, Last Days in Plaka, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Women in Athens keeping secrets.
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect Athens like they’ve never seen it, full of scrappy artists and immigrants and strivers old and young. They can expect a story about Irini, an elderly Greek widow, once well-to-do but now dependent on the kindness of her church, and Anna, a young Greek-American working at an art gallery and desperate to connect with her parents’ native culture. When the two women come together, through the local church, their friendship develops through Irini’s stories of her former life, while Anna has to reckon with what is real and what is fabrication.
Where did the inspiration for Last Days in Plaka come from?
I wrote the novel during the pandemic, when I was unable to travel to Greece to visit friends and family, as I do regularly. I missed Greece so much, and I was also highly aware (as we all were) that time was passing while we were unable to live it. Both these things found a voice in the novel set in Greece and thematically concerned with the passage of time and how we spend (or waste) the time of our lives.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I enjoyed both Irini and Anna, but also especially enjoyed writing the character of Father Emmanouil. I’m not a religious person, so writing the character of a young Greek Orthodox priest was both a challenge and an exciting experience. One of the scenes I particularly enjoyed writing takes place fairly early in the novel, when the priest treats Irini and Anna to lunch with his wife and two sons. I love to write dialogue, so a scene in which four adults (and occasionally two kids) are talking was great fun.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? If so, how did you overcome them?
Not being particularly familiar with Greek Orthodox religion, yet very much wanting to have my characters come together (under the priest’s guidance) to study the Book of Revelation, I had to read that text, of course, and to check and double-check how I was representing the religious ideas and themes in the novel–while also rendering all this as natural, for the characters who are, themselves, religious.
What do you hope your readers take away from Last Days in Plaka?
I hope they see the interconnections between elements like the Book of Revelation, the Proust that Irini is reading with her book group, the Truffaut films she and Anna go to watch, the Miles Davis that Irini’s husband used to listen to, and the street art that Anna tries hard to create. And that they feel empathy for both Irini and Anna, each of whom is struggling to reconcile her life, at its end and at its beginning.
With this your third published novel, what are some of the key lessons you’ve learned when it comes to writing and the publishing industry?
I’ve learned that every novel is essentially your first novel. Each project has its own way of progressing and its own requirements for how you’re going to write it. And I’ve learned that, in publishing, it’s important to be assertive and to ask for what you want. I’m thinking of the phase I’m in now, with book events coming up. I realize how vital it is not to shy away from asking people to help you–by coming to events, by spreading the word, by ordering your book!
What’s next for you?
I’m revising a novel about a young woman physicist in 1970 whose mother disappeared when she was ten years old. So it’s a bit of a mystery novel and it’s also about thermodynamics and a sister relationship.
Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?
I’m excited for the release of my friend Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters, and for friend Marjan Kamali’s The Lion Women of Tehran!
