The true story of young Greeks in the early 20th century who were called upon to fight endless wars for Greece's 'Great Idea'. As teenagers they emigrated to Missouri, USA. Later, after returning to fight in the Balkan Wars, the exhaustion of their country forced them to leave again, this time for Australia. There they built a cafe and cinema business and learnt that money can be made in a new country, but just as easily lost.

'Katsehamos and the Great Idea' now available as an eBook on Amazon

Three Greek immigrants from the island of Kythera established the Roxy cafe and cinema in 1936. This Depression-era enterprise in a small country town exemplifies the Greek migration experience between the world wars: one that helped to shape Australia.

What readers say:

“I found the book fascinating because it contains the dreams and aspirations of all Greek immigrants of my father's generation, a world that has faded from the collective Greek consciousness as much as the Great Idea. Most of all, however, I was struck by the literary quality of the book which is far superior to almost all works of this type that I have read.”

— Nicholas Gage, Pulitzer Prize nominated Greek-American journalist and author of 'Eleni'.

"The mass migrations that followed the early twentieth century turmoil in the Balkans laid the foundations for that great Australian institution the Greek country cafe ... Peter Prineas' spirited account of migrants building small empires of cafes and cinemas is also tinged with the loneliness and isolation they experienced in xenophobic bush towns."

— Tony Maniaty, 'Weekend Australian'.


“Katsehamos" was republished in October 2011 as an eBook and is available from Amazon.

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Katsehamos on Amazon.

http://peterprineas.com.au/katsehamos-and-the-great-idea/