Helena: An Odyssey (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781502708526)

Carolyn Taylor-Watts, author biography As in Helena: An Odyssey, my life too resembles a saga. It had its origins in remote, rural New Zealand where I, as a farmer's daughter, became a registered nurse, married and had children. I moved with my first husband to Canada. In Toronto I worked for many years as a registered nurse while writing articles and short stories. I married a second time. After an accumulation of years, I made a third marriage and a decision to dedicate my life to writing. My dream was to write a family saga, a generational tale with a historical backdrop and emotional heft. The material that came immediately to mind was how and why in the 1850's my forebears left England and the Isle of Man - or fled - arriving in the Antipodes to prosper, survive, or destruct. And so I began assembling material. About that time I met search and rescue workers in the Canadian Coast Guard, Navy SEALS and Search and Rescue Technicians. They inspired me to write their stories and so my journey began - not with a family saga - but with true stories of heroism, rescue and survival published by Nimbus Publishing and Dundurn Press. A moving and joyous ride it was! I returned to my original plan to bring my ancestors to life. But quite soon I realized that I already knew this story. It was then I heard Tom Wolfe speak. "It's been said that you should write about what you know," he said, "but unless you can write it in a particular and unique way, get to know something else." Enter my Greek hair dresser and the tale of her family's tragic past in Ottoman Turkey and Greece. Learning about Greco- Turkish history became my all-consuming passion. I spent time with Greek people [in Toronto], spent endless days, weeks, months doing research, then travelled with my husband throughout Greece and Turkey. Who were the ancient peoples who raced across the Anatolian Plateau over thousands of years? I wanted to know. How did they live? What do today's populations of Greeks and Turks have in common with them: Hittites. Assyrians. Lydians? If you are a Greek living in Anatolia as your ancestors have done from the beginning of time but you live among Turks, adopt many of their customs, even speak their language, are you a Greek or a Turk? Do you care? Perhaps not much, until you are forced to. These questions intrigued me. Soon, passionately I wanted to know. As I read, this history took on magical, even mystical proportions.