Zigzag Through the Bitter-orange Trees

Winner of the Greek State Prize for Literature and the Book Critics' Award

Zigzag through the Bitter-Orange Trees was first published in Greece, where it was acclaimed as "the best novel of the decade" and became the first novel to win both the Greek State Prize for Literature and the prestigious Book Critics' Award.

Zigzag through the Bitter-Orange Trees weaves together the stories of four disparate young people in modern Greece: Lia, dying in the hospital from a mysterious virus; her brother Sid, the disaffected wanderer, her only remaining connection to the outside world; Lia's nurse Sotiris, an unstable blend of cowardice and desire; and the twelve-year-old rebel Nina, who dreams to break away from the humdrum life around her. Their four unforgettable voices mingle in a poignant black comedy of isolation and yearning, illusion and vengeance and the hunger for connection. With disarming power, Sotiropoulos portrays the conflicted world of the young -- passionate and cynical, beautiful and grotesque.