Nicholson Books

Freely wrote this book while living for several months in the old Venetian port city of Chania in western Crete. One of the main things you will learn in the book is that Cretan history didn't end with the Minoans. Freely covers all the best-known Minoan sites thoroughly, of course, and he will also apprise you of lesser-known but intriguing sites like the mysterious palace at Kato Zakros, the small farming town of Gournia, the necropolis at Armeni, or the Minoan refugee community at Karphi overlooking the Lasithi Plain. But Freely is also excellent on the Venetians and on the various nineteenth-century Cretan revolts against the island's Turkish overlords. He also has a an obvious love for Cretan folkways and traditions.

Freely wrote this book in an engaging first-person style, and he makes for an agreeable companion. He clearly loves the outdoors, particularly hiking and beach-going, and the book is full of excellent recommendations on both. You'll be determined to do the famous hike from the Omalos Plateau through the Samaria Gorge to the south coast after reading Freely's account of his hike through the gorge with his son. Another lesson that Freely clearly teaches is that a traveler to Crete should learn to savor the comparative merits of the island's beaches just as a visitor to England should develop an appreciation of the merits of different cathedrals or country houses. If I hadn't read Freely, I might well not have sought out the beaches at Preveli, Phalasarna, or particularly Elafonisi. The first two were unforgettable, but Elafonisi was in another league altogether: no wonder Freely chose to end this book with a visit there. Let me end this review by quoting from Freely's description of it, which shows his vivid and engaging style:

"This is the most beautiful beach on all of Crete, a long, lagoon-like scimitar of pink-white sand where the waves of the Aegean merge with those of the Libyan Sea, the isle of Elafonisi looking like a South Sea coral reef shimmering in the shallows just offshore, so close that we swam out to it and sat there for an hour. . . . Then we swam back to shore and set up our picnic in the shade of a tamarisk tree, its branches twisted into a Medusa's head of tortured limbs bent back by the terrible Livas -- the Libyan Wind -- the furnace-blast that blows straight across from the sands of Libya over 230 miles of open sea a few days each summer, striking the Great Island here at its most exposed promontory."

The book has useful maps of the Minoan sites and the island's various regions. It doesn't offer much in the way of recommendations for hotels and restaurants, however, so you will need to supplement it with another guide for that.

Texan Susannah Mack Colton asks Dr. "Tag" Taggart of the Green Mountain Veterinary Clinic to geld her horse Pookie. Though a bit reluctant to take the knife to the handsome steed, the junior partner is persuaded to perform the surgery. Not too long after that, all hell breaks out as the media descends on Vermont to learn why Tag ruined one of the three most famous racing horses of the second half of the century. Apparently, Pookie is the former Triple Crown winner Payback, who was getting his owner $400,000 per mating.

Over the next six months, Stephen Colton makes life miserable for Tag. He destroys the vet's practice and leaves Tag in near financial "death by lawsuits". Tag's efforts to apologize fail as Stephen seems to want to make him a cosmic joke. Tag decides to find Susannah, whom he catches up with in Colorado where she works as a waitress. As Tag and Susannah struggle with Stephen's thirst for unending vengeance, they fall in love with one another. Both realize that before their relationship can soar, they must demonstrate to Stephen not to mess with a duo consisting of a Texan and a South Bostonian.

The "By the Year 2000" imprint is one of the better Category romance series in recent memory. The latest entry is a warm, interesting tale that will provide sub-genre fans with much satisfaction. The lead protagonists are a zany and intelligent pair. Stephen seems to be more of a caricature than a thirsting avenging angel, but that adds to the overall entertainment. With all that going for this novel, the final twist just makes Peggy Nicholson's caper worth reading even more.

Harriet Klausner