Emily Tsokos Purtill‘s debut novel took her ten years to write. Ten years in which she was also building a promising legal career and a family. It’s no surprise then, that family is at the heart of Matia – the story of four generations of women from a Greek Australian family.
The matia of the title refer to four mati – or evil eye pendants, worn by the bearer to ward off ill fortune – given by Sia, the matriarch of the family to her daughter, grand-daughter and great grand-daughter. They symbolise the bond they all share no matter where they are.
The novel weaves back and forth in time, and is told from the point of view of the four women in a non-chronological order. There is Sia (Anastasia) who arrives in Fremantle in 1945 with her aunt, joining her father who is already in Western Australia working on fishing boats.
Before leaving Greece, Sia visits a local fortune teller, who gives her four prophecies and four matia charms for the women in her family. A choice that Sia makes early on to help another woman sees her trapped in a volatile marriage. But, Sia’s strength and loyalty to the women around her continue throughout her life despite the trouble she might find herself in.
Her daughter, Koula, marries the man of her dreams and together they build the family legacy when they start a company that makes Greek yoghurt. Koula’s desperation to hold on to traditional ways and values often puts her at odds with her daughter Athena, who feels more Australian than Greek, but her efforts to be modern don’t always lead to happiness. Athena and her twin children, Clara and Sam, end up in New York. It is Clara, in the portions of the novel set in the world of the future, who will complete the circle and travel to Sia’s home village, just as the four prophecies predicted.
While the novel’s timeline is ambitious, the reader always feels as if the author is completely in control as she leads them back and forth through the lives of the four characters. Each woman has a voice distinctly their own, and despite their differences, they are all eminently relatable. Tsokos Purtill is skilled at showing their similarities whilst also showing how they are each a product of their own time and place – Sia’s adherence to a familial sense of duty, Koula’s feeling of safety within an immigrant community which keeps to the old ways, Athena’s rebellion against tradition and sense of adventure, and finally Clara, who always seems to be a little adrift.
Tsokos Purtill writes moments of tension between the generations extremely well, with dialogue that is pitch perfect and could almost have been lifted word for word from eavesdropping on a real family. The scene in which Koula and her husband Evan visit Athena and her partner Richard for lunch is particularly memorable, and wryly funny in a ‘if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ way.
While this is not primarily a speculative book, there are elements of the novel which ask about the world that we are leaving for future generations. Clara’s later sections, for example, look at the impact of climate change on the world with great subtlety. Clara questions the idea of being the end of the line, and the ethics of bringing children into the world – a question which is, in itself, completely at odds with the ways of her grandmother and great-grandmother.
This is a beautiful, heartfelt book about family, love and tradition, and the different ways to be a strong woman. With echoes of Melina Marchetta, this is sure to mark the launch of another promising career for Emily Tsokos Purtill.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Emily Tsokos Purtill’s Matia is out now through UWA Publishing. Grab yourself a copy from your local bookstore HERE.
