An enduringly timely fable of feckless leadership and rediscovered community, as enchanting as it is sharply satirical.
What can you do, when nothing can be done? What was once a glorious, thriving kingdom is now a place of despair and dereliction. An aged king and queen cling to the ghosts of memories, to the remnants of their court. Until the young prince and his sister decide they must restore and revive their home as best they can.
For more than a century, A Tale Without a Name has been one of Greece's best-loved stories, combining the timeless rhythms of a fairy tale with a satirical account of a state fallen into chaos. This playful, wise fable is enchanting for readers of any age, as meaningful and moving now as when it was first written.
Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.
Translated by Mika Provata-Carlone
Penelope S. Delta (1874-1941) was a Greek writer born in Alexandria, Egypt. An author, educationist and philanthropist, and a central figure in Greek cultural life in her time, she could easily have walked out of a novel by E.M. Forster, Marcel Proust or Henry James. Delta wrote several children's books, memoirs and historical works. She took her own life in April 1941, the day the Nazis entered Athens.
Mika Provata-Carlone is a researcher, writer, translator and illustrator. She is interested in lives and stories, real or invented, the Nachleben of the classics, cultural memory, and encounters between people and traditions across space and time. As a child, she took ballet lessons in Delta's home in Kifissia, Athens.
'Constantly intrigues and excites... Like Animal Farm ... thirty or so years later' Books for Keeps
'Delta cleverly adapts the conventions of the European fairy tale with sharp satire worthy of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift... It is a book that members of the current Irish Government should read... This book, after more than a century, continues to speak to all ages' Eileen Battersby Irish Times
'An utterly beautiful object, which is to be expected from Pushkin Press. It is a tactile thing, with small but gorgeous illustrations carefully placed throughout' Vulpes Libris