WE are two British journalists – Marjory McGinn and Jim Bruce – who, after many years working in newspapers and charting other people’s great adventures in life, sought one big, fat one of our own.
We left our Scottish village in 2010 where we’d lived and worked for over 10 years. We relocated to Greece, to a remote hillside village in the north Mani region of the southern Peloponnese. We planned to stay for a year, but it stretched to four years. While most of this time was spent in the same rural location, we moved for the last year to Koroni in the nearby Messinian peninsula.
We started the blog to offer readers a candid insight into coping with the joys and frustrations of Greek rural life, along with our vibrant Jack Russell terrier Wallace (who has sadly now passed away). We had many memorable experiences, trying to assimilate into local culture while navigating the social lines between traditional Greek society and the small expat community, as well as dealing with the effects of the deepening economic crisis. With some Greek language skills, Marjory was able to befriend many of the Greek villagers who shared their stories and their world, and particularly the unforgettable goat farmer Foteini, who became an unlikely literary muse. Marjory was inspired to write memoirs about life in the Mani with the certainty that the crisis would change the region significantly and she wanted to record some our time there, just in case.
The first book, Things Can Only Get Feta, has been a best seller for 10 years now and still continues to delight readers with its entertaining and unique view of Greek life. We returned to Britain in 2015 and due to the Pandemic and other circumstances, we are not able to spend long periods of time in Greece now, apart from holidays, for the moment. However, the blog continues to have a Greek theme with an emphasis on travel, culture and an ‘insider’s’ view of Greek life. Occasionally there are posts about other places we’ve visited and life in Cornwall, too, where we currently live.
Since our odyssey began, Marjory has had four popular travel memoirs published about our adventures in Greece: Things Can Only Get Feta, Homer’s Where the Heart Is, A Scorpion In The Lemon Tree and A Donkey On The Catwalk. She has also written two novels (with more planned) set in the Mani, A Saint For The Summer and How Greek Is Your Love? To buy the books or learn more about them, see details in sidebar of the main blog page (click Home, above), or the ‘Greek books’ section of our website http://www.bigfatgreekodyssey.com/greek-books.html
News and posts about the books are also on Marjory’s books page on Facebook:
We welcome comments/suggestions on the blog from interested readers, so please do get in touch via the blog or the contacts page of the website
Enjoy the blog, and the books.
© Text and photographs copyright of the authors 2010 to 2023. No content/text or photographs may be copied from the blog without the prior written permission of the authors. This applies to all posts on the Big Fat Greek blog.
Just love your blogs especially the one about Zorba and Iam sure that you know that Dimitris Exarhouleas runs the Taverna To Palio Bostani (the old Vegetable plot) which is a favourite with both the Dutch and English holidaymakers in Stoupa on Kalogria beach. Keep up the good work.
Regards Mary Cole
Thanks for your kind comments. Much appreciated. Regards Marjory
We spent a week south of where you were in the Mani at a friends ancestral house/wreck. Just fabulous. They (the family) had their own church right next door to the 4 crumbling family owned dwellings. The views……the cats….well, you know what it’s like!
Just finished reading your book today and want more. Are you writing about the new location? How’s Wallace doing? I laughed so much as my Greek friend is called Vassi.
We’re back in Greece (Athens, Santorini) for a couple of weeks in September. Love the people.
Please write more.
Hi Tessa,
Thanks very much for your kind message. I am glad the story rang true for you, and yes I am writing another book. Wallace is fine. A bit grumpy at present since we’re back in Scotland for now. He misses the sea but doesn’t reply to the name Vassie for now. One day he will.
Enjoy your holiday in Santorini. We have also been there and it’s wonderful.
Kind regards,
Marjory
Dear Marjory and Jim – thank you for sharing your adventures on your blog with us. Such great recommendations of places to go to, tavernas etc. and just such a lovely insight of your daily life in Greece.
I look forward to reading your book as well. Please continue writing.
Best regards,
Jessica
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for your kind words about the blog and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it. I hope you like the book too, please let me know.
Regards,
Marjory
Just finished reading your book on my Kindle at 2;00 A.M. …couldn’t put it down! My husband’s and my parents all came to America at an early age. We love Greece and have been there 4 times…once with all the kids and grandkids. Looking forward to your next book…love your descriptions of the beautiful scenery,warm-hearted people and of course, adorable Wallace. You and Jim are no longer xenoi to me!
Dear Joanne,
What a lovely comment. It’s meli to my ears. Thanks for taking the time to write in. Possibly the last thing you wrote about no longer being xenoi is the nicest thing I’ve heard for ages.
Filakia polla,
Marjory
Marjory, just finished the sequel while on holiday in France. Great holiday read with a mixture of the hilarious and the serious. Wallace surviving his illness is miracle at his age and his antics with Zina a good laugh. The farewell from Foteini is a huge compliment to you and Jim. Volume 3 please! George
Dear George,
So glad you enjoyed the sequel and all the various antics. And that’s just Wallace’s. Yes, Wallace survived a serious problem this time but not without the help of his wonderful vet Angelos in Kalamata and an excellent private vet clinic in Athens that is a real tribute to the talent and hard work of Greeks.
Volumne 3? I’ll do my best for you!
Regards to Ann.
Love, Marjory xxx
Just popping by to say hi and well done! Guys I think you were in Greece all the while I was in the UK, looking fwd to reading the books.
Hi Eugenia,
Thanks for your comment. I hope you enjoy the books. Let me know.
Regards,
Marjory
A number of hellenophiles such as John Humphries and Victoria Hislop have written articles helping us to understand what is happening but no one has made the points you have made in your recent blog which I found very interesting.
As you say the Germans and the EU negotiators are on a different planet to the Greeks. Their understanding of the world and how it operates are poles apart. I thought you expressed that very eloquently.
Many thanks for your article.
Hi Robert,
Thanks very much for your comment. I think we all need to come to the rescue these days and help others who don’t know much about Greece to understand the Greek character.
Regards,
Marjory
Dear Marjory
I very much enjoyed Things Can Only Get Feta and am just reaching the end of Homer’s Where the Heart Is. I particularly identified with Chapter 4 (Athens 1970s). The feelings and reactions you describe mirror those I experienced on my first visit to Greece – love at first sight.
In September this year I was in the Mani peninsula, so your books have been of special interest.
I speak Greek reasonably well and certainly understand some of the confusions with similar sounding words, especially when it is only a matter of which syllable is stressed.
Thank you for some pleasurable reading.
Jill
Dear Jill,
Thanks very much for taking the time to write to the blog and for your kind comments.
I am glad the books had some meaning for you and particularly the early years in Athens.
When you went to the Mani, did you make it up to the village of Megali Mantineia?
Kindest regards,
Marjory
Hello Marjory & Jim!
As we were wandering around the web we found your beautiful comment for Tsolias art gallery at your blog post “Have the wheels come off Greece in crisis?”
SO, we just popped by to say hi and THANK YOU for your very kind words for our little shop, Mary and George (yes it is George, Michael its the name of Mary’s father 😉 )
We hope to see you back again in the future!
Dear Vicky,
How lovely that you got in touch. Thanks so much. I loved the shop and that special collection of artwork your family sells there. Just beautiful. I love my little ceramic olive tree. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of Greece.
Regards to Mary and George. And all best wishes for success with the Tsolias gallery in the Plaka which is very much deserved.
Next time we are in Athens, we shall call by again.
Να ειστε παντα καλα.
Regards,
Marjory x
Hi Marjory
A bit late to the party but just a quick note to say I have read “Things Can Only Get Feta”. Absolutely loved it. I am now a third of the way through “Homer’s Where The Heart Is” and I am not disappointed at all. I love your descriptions of characters and places and they really help build a wonderful picture of your life spent in the Mani.
Best Regards
Lee
Hi Lee,
Thanks for your comment. No, not late at all. I still love to hear that readers like my first book, seven years after I published it. If you get to the novels as well, the latest just published, How Greek Is Your Love?, I hope you like them too. Do let me know.
Kind regards,
Marjory
Hi Marjory
I have now finished the trilogy and your two novels. I am not a reader of fiction as a rule but your trilogy set the scene wonderfully for the search for Kieran and Bronte’s life in the Mani. All the characters and locations remain vivid in my memory. It’s been a difficult few months for us all but your books have helped to keep spirits high for me. My only regret is that there are no more Greek escapades to read about. My wife and I have had many holidays in Greece, in particular, Kefalonia and like you love Greece and the Greek people we have metI.
I look forward to more from the pen of such a gifted writer in the future.
Best Regards
Lee
Hi Lee,
Thanks for your lovely message. I’m overjoyed the non-fiction books set the scene for you and that you enjoyed Bronte’s adventures later.
I plan to write another book in this Bronte In Greece series but it won’t be out for a while yet, sorry.
I do have another Greek non-fiction book I’m working on meantime and I will give you all an update about this on the blog in future.
Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Regards, Marjory