Let Me Explain You

A Novel

Annie Liontas

- 4.2 • 6 Ratings

- $12.99

- $12.99

An unforgettable novel about a Greek American family and its enigmatic patriarch from a significant new voice in contemporary literature. “Hilarious yet rich…This debut by Annie Liontas will touch you” (The New York Times).

Stavros Stavros Mavrakis, Greek immigrant and proud owner of the Gala Diner, believes he has just ten days to live. As he prepares for his final hours, he sends a scathing email to his ex-wife and three grown daughters, outlining his wishes for how they each might better live their lives. With varying degrees of laughter and scorn, his family and friends dismiss his behavior as nothing more than a plea for attention, but when Stavros disappears, those closest to him are forced to confront the possibility of his death.

A vibrant tour de force that races to a surprising conclusion, Let Me Explain You is told from multiple perspectives: Stavros Stavros, brimming with pride and cursing in broken English; his eldest daughter Stavroula, a talented chef in love with her boss’s daughter; her sister, the wounded but resilient Litza; and many other voices who compose a veritable Greek chorus.

Funny yet deeply moving, this “pitch perfect” (San Francisco Chronicle) novel delivers a thoughtful meditation on the power of storytelling. In Let Me Explain You, Annie Liontas explores our origins and family myths, the relationship between fathers and daughters, the complex bond of sisterhood, hunger and what feeds us, but “the novel’s true heart is one filled with love and forgiveness” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUN 22, 2015

Liontas's often raucous debut about a dysfunctional Greek-American family opens with Stavros Stavros Mavrakis's email to his three daughters and second ex-wife. After the Goat of Death appears to him, he believes he has 10 days to live. The proud, successful Stavros seethes with anger, and in broken English gives edicts to his family and insults them, shifting any blame away from himself, thereby assuring that his email is received in the worst possible way. Backstory about his early life on Crete and his first years in America with his first wife pinpoints the origin of his rage and the troubles he visits upon his two eldest daughters. Lacking parental support, Stavroula becomes a successful chef, but in her private life an unfed need leaves her hungry. Litza, the middle daughter, unwittingly offered herself as a pawn in her parents' disastrous divorce, and became a hot, angry mess. The youngest daughter, Ruby, from Stavros's second marriage, is the golden child. Liontas adds tremendously to the novel's ambiance through Stavros's idiomatic language, expertly reveals the layers of her characters' lives, and perfectly captures their emotional temperatures in an unputdownable read.

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